Letters to the Soul
by Aquaheart
Summary: Sasuke's eyebrows arched as he read the words on the page before him printed in girly script.   Sakura narrowed her eyes in rage, grabbing the paper and resisting the urge to tear it to shreds on site.  SasukexSakura
1. Sakura's Letter

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. The idea is mine though.

A young, dark haired boy emerged from the shower at the sound of his doorbell. "What?" he growled at the mail carrier as she looked at him with shock. Her watery blue eyes scanned over his half clothed self as she took in his lean but muscular frame and jet black eyes. They narrowed as she fought to stay professional. "Uh, a message came for you." She said quickly, pushing an envelope into his hands. He rolled his eyes, but thanked her politely before closing the door on her and walking into his house. He saw that the letter was cherry blossom pink with the scent of flowers on it and nearly threw it out on sight. His stupid fan girls were constantly sending him love letters or invitations to parties and such only to end up with the same result; rejection. But then he saw the bright red letters scrawled into the paper in very familiar handwriting. With a sigh, he opened the letter and began to read.

Sasuke Uchiha,

I've spent my whole life chasing after you, but I think you'll be happy to know that I've finally moved on. If you don't believe me and want to think that no fan girl of yours can move on, well, look at this.

Why I'm Over You

You call me weak

Ha! I might have been weaker than you and Naruto when we were chunin, but I'm the best medic-nin this village has ever seen now! I wasn't able to fight before, but I'm plenty strong now!

You think you're great

Yeah right. Your whole life you did nothing but train so that you could beat Itachi but when it came to the battle you could barely beat him even though he was half dead. In fact, you had to tap into your curse mark just to survive! Who's weak now, Sasuke?

You always pushed people away even though they were only trying to help.

Next time you're in the hospital, I'll leave you to starve. And to do stupid things so that you'll never ever recover.

You called me annoying.

And Naruto wasn't?????

You're unappreciative.

No matter what anyone did for you, you appreciated none of it. Take for example the chunin exams. I sat with you and Naruto for the longest time taking care of you, but what did I get in return? After days of working, sweating unattractively, and setting traps to keep others away what did I have to show for it? Nothing. Zip. None. Nada.

You're a traitor

To everyone. Especially me. Take that as you will Uchiha.

You obsess over nothing.

Even when you try your hardest, you can never be satisfied. For someone who has a 99.9 average when it comes to accuracy, I don't see why this bothers you so much. Even Neji can't beat that!

Nothing I ever did met your satisfaction

No matter how hard I worked or how tediously I trained, the only time I ever got any recognition from you was when I did something wrong.

You're narrow-minded

You don't see the things that are blatantly obvious and refuse to acknowledge what's right there. Hello? How long did I obsess over you?

You have no heart.

I loved you so much, but nothing ever came from that now did it? But it doesn't matter because I don't even think that you're capable of love. Good bye asshole.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows as he saw the last words. His fingers gripped the pink paper tightly and he noticed that there were grooves in it where the kunoichi had pressed too hard, fueled by rage. He smiled softly as he picked up a pen and began to write a reply.

He scrawled furiously until he wrote what he wanted and immediately took it to the post office to send as soon as possible. That night, he slept with the parchment on his night stand, the floral scent still lingering as he closed his onyx eyes and smiled again for the second time that day.

A/N: Thanks for reading this! I'm still new to writing fan-fics but would really love it if you commented on it! And the next chapter is about Sasuke's letter. Review please!


	2. Sasuke's Reply

A/N: I apologize for the terrible formatting of the other document. Somehow it changed from when I uploaded it. Thank you so much for the reviews you guys posted and to all those who added me to their favorites! Here's the next chapter!

_Ding-dong_

_Ding-dong_

_Ding-dong_

_Ding-dong_

Sakura Haruno grudgingly got out of bed at the insistent ringing of her door chime. She opened the door on a cheery Sunday morning with the full intent to blow up the person standing beyond the wooden structure. "What is it?" She said irritably to the sheepish looking boy standing at her porch. "You'd better have a pretty darn good reason for coming to my house at 6 am. Don't you know that some people have been working their asses off for the past week and have gotten no sleep AT ALL?" she roared. The young messenger looked afraid of the pink haired kunoichi. "Uhh, I…I'm sorry miss. But ah, a umm, package….came for you….he paid me to umm make sure you picked it up…on time. My apologies, Miss." He stammered. Sakura fought the urge to hurl a kunai at the young boy. He was only doing his job after all. Instead she sighed and felt some of her anger evaporate. "Well, what is it?" she growled, still furious. The boy produced an envelope from the confines of his satchel and he quickly bowed to her and left. Grumbling, Sakura took the letter and shut the door forcefully. _Whomever sent this will be receiving quite a reply._ She thought as she ripped open the letter. Immediately after the letter was removed she knew who the sender was and smiled at herself. This had been worth it after all.

Sakura-chan,

I received your wonderful letter and I have a few words to say in reply. And in case you were wondering, I do believe that no fan girl of Sasuke Uchiha can ever be over him. Let me indulge you.

I called you weak all those years ago and I still believe it. You'll never be on par with me or Naruto so just forget it. You are weak. Meet me at the second training field tomorrow at noon to prove me wrong.

I am not powerless or weak. What happened between myself and Itachi does not concern you. Meet me at the lake behind your house on Tuesday at dawn and I'll show you the power of my fire jutsu.

I did not push people away. Everyone just liked to make a big deal about nothing. Shinobi are admitted to the hospital on a daily basis, yet I was the one to receive special treatment. I never needed any of it. Meet me at Ichiraku's on ten am Friday and I'll show you how it felt to be different.

I called you annoying because you were. You were always interested in me or your looks or any other aspect. You were unfocused on training and that made you weak and useless. By constantly ostracizing me you were a nuisance. The academy's full of kids that are not too different from us then. I'll prove it to you there Wednesday at two by the tree with the swing.

I was not unappreciative. I simply did not need the so called 'help' you and Naruto liked to give. I was fine on my own. You and that knucklehead were always in the way. You never realized how irritating your help was. In fact, you only made it worse.

A traitor. That's what I am to you Sakura? Nothing more than a cowardly ninja who would abandon his village and his friends in the pursuit of revenge? No. I was not a traitor. I was an avenger and I have accomplished my goals. Meet me at the bench on Friday at dusk and I'll prove to you how wrong you are. You know what bench.

I obsess over nothing? By wanting to improve myself and my jutsu through vigorous training and hard work I was obsessive? What are you then, Sakura? For years you yearned for someone who would never return your affection. You loved a statue, Sakura. How is that not obsessive? In fact, this is where I make my point. Come with me to the ice cream parlor on Saturday at four. I noticed that your favorite flavor was strawberry? So is mine.

Nothing anyone did met my satisfaction. Meet me under the cover of darkness at the meadow the following Sunday if you want my opinion of you.

The next two go hand in hand. You say that I have no heart and that I was narrow minded. That's not true. If you could look into my eyes you would understand. Meet me at my house tonight at six. Show me that you care.

~Sasuke Uchiha

Sakura finished the letter and smiled, no longer angry that she had been woken up after only a few hours of sleep. The moment the letter was in her hands, she had felt something for her former flame. And now, she had a date with Sasuke Uchiha every single day this week. How would she feel once she saw him later? Oh yes, the sender would be receiving quite a reply.


	3. Internal Debates

A/N: Thanks so much for reading this! The italics by the way are thoughts. Now, onto the next chapter!

A young kunoichi stepped out of the mist of steam, her pink hair slightly damp and a white towel wrapped around her body. She walked over to her desk and found the letter that had been bothering her all day. It was 6 o'clock already and she still hadn't decided if she wanted to go yet. _Should I go to Sasuke's house tonight? Is he really worth my time?_ Sakura asked herself. She thought back to when they were genin and ho he had always been cold to her. Of course, he was cold to everyone, but to her, she didn't feel rejected, she felt hurt. She remembered the words he once said to her when she asked him to go out one day after their mission to the Land of Waves.

Flashback

"Hey Sasuke! I was thinking, that maybe that we're done with the mission now, do you uh want to go out or something?" A hopeful 12 year old Sakura asked the impassive boy. Sasuke stopped, his hands coolly in his pockets as he spoke without turning to her. "Maybe if you spent less time training and less time flirting, you'd be able to keep up with us. In fact, you're not even as good as Naruto." He said coldly. It was silent for a moment while she processed this information before realizing that he spoke the truth. As she watched the boy she had been so infatuated with walk away, she couldn't help but feel heartbroken.

End of Flashback

The memory nearly brought tears to her eyes, but she held them back knowing that what he had said all those years ago didn't apply now. She was nearly as good as Lady Tsunade herself, no one called her weak now. _But in all honesty, why do I want to go tonight? _She questioned herself. Then the words of his letter echoed in her mind. "Meet me at my house tonight at six. Show me that you care." _I suppose I don't really have a choice. I don't want him to think that I don't care about him. As a friend of course. He means nothing more to me than that and the only reason I'm going is for old times' sake._ And with that _s_he grabbed a simple emerald green kimono with gold flowering on it and changed. As she began to brush her hair she smiled to herself. "Oh yes Sasuke, you'll be in for quite a surprise tonight." She laughed.

A raven haired boy sat on his bed, his arms rested behind his head. _Why do I even bother with her? She means nothing more to me than Naruto. But no, Naruto I want to fight. Sakura, well, I could beat her without lifting a finger. She's so weak._ As these thoughts clouded his mind, he scowled. "I'm such an idiot!" he cried, snapping up and throwing a kunai at his wall. He heard the satisfying _thump_ that his knife made when it collided with the wall and with a sigh he flopped back on his bed. It was 6:00 and he hadn't moved an inch to prepare for dinner with his old teammate. He refused to think of it as a date. Sasuke _you dobe, what have you done. You don't even want to see her and yet you were the one who had insisted on it._ He chastised himself coldly. Part of him hoped that she wouldn't show up, but he didn't want to bet on it. "Hey teme! What's up?" A joyous exclamation from a blond haired ninja hanging from a nearby tree caused Sasuke to instinctively throw another kunai at his open window. The knife charged at its intended target with astounding precision."Yah! Sasuke! What the heck did you do that for!" Naruto yelled as he clumsily dodged the weapon and jumped through the window. "Naruto! What are you doing here!" Sasuke accused his friend after he had regained his composure. His heart beat wildly in his chest as he fought to keep his shock from showing. _Damnit, I'm so wound up about Sakura that I didn't even notice his presence. This is getting out of hand._ "Heh? You ok, teme?" Naruto asked, a quizzical look on his face. "Hn, I'm fine dobe. Now would you care to explain why you're here?" the infamous cool and collected Sasuke Uchiha façade was already back in place on his face. "Well I uh, wanted to stop by and say hi and ask if maybe you and Sakura wanted to go out and get some ramen together or something. It's been forever!" he said smiling. "If you wanted all of squad 7 to go, why don't you ask Sakura first? At least she might go with you." A smirk appeared on the Uchiha's face. "Aww come on Sasuke! You know that she'll only go if you go!" the fox boy replied. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Look Naruto, I have some business to take care of so I can't go tonight. And for the matter neither can Sakura so maybe later ok?" he said trying to hurry the young ninja out. "Hey, wait a minute, how do you know that Sakura can't go?" He inquired. Sasuke clenched his teeth, reluctant to inform his friend of his and Sakura's plans. "It doesn't matter. Now go." He said, his patience gone. Naruto looked bewildered for a moment before he understood for the first time in his life. "Oh I get it! You and Sakura are going on a date! Oh man teme! I can't believe it! This is awesome! I mean, Sakura's been after you forever and…." Sasuke silenced him with a look of venom. "Get out, Naruto or I'll hunt you down and personally make sure that you never do another jutsu again!" he threatened. "Ok fine! I'll go ask Hinata if she wants to come with me." And with that Naruto ducked through the window, narrowly dodging yet another kunai that Sasuke had thrown at him. "Gotta do better than that teme!" he goaded his friend. Sasuke promptly dashed over to the window and with a loud _SLAM _locked it. "Dobe." He muttered under his breath.

A/N: The next chapter will be about the actual date. I'm not too sure why I wrote this, but inspiration came to me and I didn't want to rush into the story so I hope this is satisfactory!


	4. Sakura Gets Even

Sasuke Uchiha leaned out of his open window trying to clear his mind. He breathed in the fresh breeze and closed his eyes. _Why she'll even bother is beyond me._ He shook his head as he turned around to face his mirror. He had a feeling that Sakura would show up, especially because of what he had written. "…Show me that you care." His mouth twitched at the beginnings of a smile and his eyes trailed forwards as he took in his reflection, scowling at the same time. There didn't seem to be anything wrong, however. His dark hair was clean and put into his usual style and it didn't betray the fact that he had started getting ready only half an hour before. A dark navy blue shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the back and black shorts made him look like he had put effort into looking nice. But what was wrong? _I don't care how I look, but it's not my look that's off. What is it?_ He fought the urge to hurl another kunai as he looked at his wall where he had still not removed the knife. Sasuke sighed and looked at the mirror again, wondering what exactly was wrong with the otherwise perfect picture. He gasped when he realized what it was. His eyes. They were their usual obsidian, a dark combination that usually got fans girls swarming him. But today, there was something else. They were darker, in a sentimental sense. It was as if he could see the actual hatred in them and he didn't like what he saw. _One look at me and she'll think I'm crazy._ He slumped to the ground, trying to regain his composure. Sasuke didn't like what he saw in his eyes because to him, it made him no better than Orochimaru, his former mentor whom he had so mercilessly murdered. _Stop it Sasuke. You're nothing like him. Get a hold of yourself! _"Sharingan!" he activated his kekkei genkei in a desperate attempt to rid them of the malicious intent they bore. Breathing raggedly, he slowly looked at himself again. His irises glared back at him, mocking him. The power he held was hidden in his eyes and right now he was poised to kill. He stopped his Sharingan and took deep breaths. When he looked at himself again, he was relieved to find that the hatred that had fueled them before had left and that a now calm, emotionless state had returned to them. _What's wrong with me? _

Sakura gently knocked on the door to the Uchiha complex. There was a quiet muffle as she prepared to knock again. Before her fist could make contact, the door opened and Sasuke appeared. "Good evening Sasuke." She said politely. "Hello Sakura. It's been a while." He replied. Sakura looked at the young man standing in front of her. His shirt clung gently to his torso, revealing the taut muscle beneath the fabric. When she looked at his eyes she noticed that they glinted with some emotion, but also looked relieved, like he had just gone through a trying ordeal. "Come in." his voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she walked through the door. Sasuke was surprised when he saw Sakura. She was wearing a green kimono instead of her usual pink. "It's been a long time, hasn't it Sasuke?" Sakura's voice called from somewhere beside him. Sasuke whirled around to face her. "Hn, yeah." Was his placid response. Sakura looked at him and for a moment Sasuke wondered if maybe she really had changed. "Ok Sasuke, what's the deal here?" she asked flatly. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "You know very well what I mean Sasuke Uchiha. I want to know why you invited me here after never even speaking to me for so long." She stated matter-of-fact. His dark eyes seemed to laugh and he took in her words. "What, two friends can't get together every now and then?" he asked, smirking. Sakura refused to back down. "Don't mess with me Uchiha, answer the question." The kunoichi demanded. At this Sasuke narrowed his eyes. No one talked to him like that. "I'm sure you know as well as I do." He replied coldly. Sakura scoffed. "Well I suppose that you want to believe that no fan girl of yours can ever get over you huh? You think that you're too great to stop being obsessed over." She replied, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him. Sasuke was stunned. Was this the same Sakura that used to go along with his suicidal plans just to be near him? He smirked again. "Let's eat." He said coolly and walked into his kitchen. Dinner was rice with meatballs and it was delicious. He hadn't had time to cook anything, so he ordered out from an expensive place that made everything look home made. Sakura grimaced as she ate her food. "Didn't know you could cook, Sasuke." She said scathingly. "Hn. There's a lot of things you don't know about me Sakura-chan." He replied, casually adding the honorific to her name. Sakura wasn't fazed, she knew Sasuke wanted to get to her head. "Oh really? That's odd, considering how long I've known you." She retorted. Sasuke's mind raced to find a comeback to throw at her. He came up blank and was forced to shovel in a mouthful of food in response. Sakura smirked, proud of herself.

"So Sasuke, what have you been doing for the past whatever years?" she asked as she began to help him clear the dishes. "Training. Do you know what that is?" he taunted. Sakura fumed. "I'll have you know that I've been TRAINING with the legendary Lady Tsunade! One of the three sannin!" she yelled. Sasuke chuckled and suppressed a smile. He had finally gotten to her. "Oh Sakura-chan, you don't have to do that." He said, taking the dish from her hands and tossing it in the dish washer. Sakura squinted. All night Sasuke had been dropping the honorific and she was confused as to why. _Hehe looks like I've got someone a little wound up._ She thought gleefully. Sasuke watched as she stiffened at her name. He wasn't sure why he was doing what he was doing, but he supposed it was because he wanted to test her will power. He reached around her and grabbed the other dish she was holding, throwing that too, into the washer. "Let's sit." He said, walking over to his living room. Sakura had no choice but to follow. "Ok Sasuke, game's over. What do you have to say for yourself?" she asked harshly once they had sat down. Sasuke scoffed. "You could have said thank you. Or be appreciative I asked you over at all." He replied. "As if I had a choice." She shot back, crossing her legs as she watched his response. Sasuke was beyond feeling now. _What happened to Sakura? When did she get so…bold?_ He wondered. He continued to further push his luck. "You really think that a fan girl of mine would leave me alone so easily?" he looked at her directly and was surprised to find her meeting his gaze with sharp intent. "Tch, get over yourself Sasuke. You're not that great." She said, her gaze never wavering. Sasuke refused to back down. "If that's true, then why did you ever bother coming tonight?" he asked. "Because even though I'm over you, I still care for people. Compassion is something you need as a medical nin." She said, refusing to look away. They sat like that for a moment, neither one daring to take their gaze away from the other. Sakura finally spoke. "So what was it that you meant when you said 'If you could see into my eyes, you'd understand'?" she asked. "I'm looking into them and guess what, all I see is a heart of ice." She dared. Sasuke smirked. "Sakura-chan, you are too much." In an instant he was in front of her. Both his arms were to either side of her head and his face blocked her path. She was trapped. "Admit it Sakura, you can't stop being you. This whole time, everything's been a lie. Stop living the lie Sakura, and start seeing the truth." He gently edged his face closer to hers. "Stop lying. I know you can see what I want you to see. Don't lie to yourself." He taunted. "Never." Sakura replied stubbornly. Sasuke smirked and leaned closer to her. "Never say never." And with that he pressed his lips to hers. The moment his flesh made contact, he felt a stinging pain in his arm. "Ouch! Damnit! Sakura!" he swore. It was Sakura's turn to smile. "Oh Sasuke-kun, do you really think you could get to me that easy?" she asked, laughing as he tried to locate the source of his pain. His blood was on fire and he felt his arm going numb. "What the hell was that?" he exclaimed, looking at his arm, but finding nothing. Sakura proudly held up half a dozen senbon. "Gotcha." Sasuke looked at her in disbelief. "Now, try to harass me again and I won't give you the antidote." She said, holding up a vial of dusty red liquid. Sasuke held his palm out, waiting for her to hand it to him so the pain in his arm would cease. "What?" he asked when she didn't move. Sakura raised her eye brows at him. "You really think that you'll get it that easy?" she asked, her eyes mocking. "Sakura!" he cried before grabbing his arm in pain. "Give me the antidote." He said before collapsing on the floor. Sakura stood over him, watching as he groaned in pain. "Who's weak now?" she said. Sasuke felt the poison spreading through his arms. He couldn't believe that Sakura was really going to kill him. "Sakura." Was all he could manage before he blacked out.

* * *

A/N: Haha! Sakura finally gets even. But what will happen next? Will she let him live, or will she fulfill something that others could not? Reviews would be appreciated!


	5. Nonsense

A/N: I really love writing this story guys! Thanks so much for the encouragement! Reviews are craved!

* * *

Sasuke woke up in his bed. _What's going on? _He wondered groggily as he looked around his home. "Sakura?" he asked as he lifted his head. His room was empty except for the usual mahogany desk and chair set and the bureau where he kept his clothes. He looked to his right and saw that she wasn't sitting next to him in front of the ominous bookcase. Sakura was nowhere to be found. Sasuke bolted upright, pressing a hand to his forehead when felt a headache coming on. His eyes shifted to his left to his nightstand and on it he saw a glass of water and a note. Quickly gulping down the water, he let his eyes linger on the note before tentatively grabbing it, afraid that it would burst into flames at the slightest touch.

_Sasuke, _

_Sorry about earlier. I don't know what came over me. I gave you the antidote though so you should be fine. If you don't want to meet me at the training grounds tomorrow, then I understand. I'll be there though. _

_~Sakura _

Sasuke clenched his fists. Oh he would defiantly go, if only to enact revenge on her poisoning him.

* * *

Sakura stood by a large tree, aimlessly tossing another kunai at a target 5 meters away. As she heard the _thump_ it made as it came in contact with the target, she sighed. "I wonder if he'll even show up." She said before sitting down and gazing at the target. "What makes you think that I wouldn't come?" a voice behind her startled the young kunoichi so badly she threw a shuriken before her mind registered the voice. Sasuke narrowly dodged the weapon as he hopped down from the tree and in front of Sakura. "Hey Sasuke." Sakura said flatly, even though she was grinning on the inside. Sasuke just looked at her. "What?" she asked the once again navy clad Uchiha. Sasuke just scoffed as he took in her dark yellow training outfit. "You're going to be so easy to find wearing that." He told her. Sakura fought the urge to stick her tongue out at him. Though the act would have been appropriate, it was too childish for the moment. Instead she replied "It doesn't matter. You won't be able to catch me even if you do find me." Sasuke lightly shook his head before looking into her piercing green gaze. The moment he did, a sharp _clang _of weapons interrupted him. He looked at the smug face of Sakura as she proudly held up a shuriken she had thrown to intercept his kunai. "Come on Sasuke, you're going to have to do better than that if you want to catch me." The moment he heard the words, Sakura was gone. "What?" he was caught off guard as he wasn't prepared for her to begin the session so quickly. Swiftly activating his Sharingan, he searched the premises for his (ex?) teammate. The moment he found her, a tsunami of shuriken were hurled at him and he nimbly evaded them all. Sakura cursed under her breath. "You won't win this time Sasuke." She promised as she prepared to launch the next attack. Sasuke didn't let her have time to recuperate. He quickly did a Phoenix Flower Jutsu, one of his older and weaker attacks, before losing sense of her chakra. "Where are you now." He looked around the training grounds again and found her right behind him. "What the-" Sakura gently touched him and Sasuke felt his body go numb. _Can't move. What?_ He looked at the pink haired girl as his eyes demanded an explanation. "Paralysis jutsu. Great for a close range fighter like me not so good for you, Sasuke." She told him, smirking. Sasuke fought to regain control of his body. He knew that there had to be some secret to the function of the jutsu and if he could just figure out the weakness in it, he'd be free. Sakura smiled at him as she watched her defenseless foe. "Now, do you still think I'm weak Sasuke?" she asked, her tone mocking. Sasuke glared at her, though he had to admit his surprise at her ability to capture him so quickly. Sakura sensed his feeling and released him from her jutsu. Freed, Sasuke cursed himself. _I shouldn't have been beaten that easily! It was so obvious, too obvious. There was no way I should've fallen for her trick! _He silently fumed. It was not until a moment later did he realize that Sakura wasn't there. He looked around for her and saw her a little while away. "Sakura!" he called. She stopped, but didn't turn to him. "Nice work." He said, his tone the usual cool. She raised her hand in acknowledgment as she continued on.

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A/N: Sorry, this is a little OOC, but there's only so much room for interpretation!

Reviews would be greatly appreciated!


	6. A Ninja Never Sees the Obvious

_Beep _

_Beep_

_Beep_

_Beep _

Sakura slammed her arm down on her defenseless alarm clock before it quieted down. Yawning, she rubbed her tired eyes as she looked at the beaten contraption. It read 5 am. She groaned as she dragged her weary body from her bed. Sasuke had asked her to meet him at dawn at the lake behind her house and she had no idea what the importance was other than for Sasuke to show off his new jutsu. The cool shower numbed her sense and she breathed in the icy air.

"Sasuke better have one hell of a jutsu if he wants me to get up this early on my day off." She growled.

Stepping out of the shower, the kunoichi dressed in a pair of simple white pants and an orange tank top with delicate flowers stitched into it. Sakura walked down the steps while thinking about her breakfast. In the years that Sasuke had left her, she had stopped her obsession with diets and no longer skipped meals. Pouring a healthy serving of cereal she thought about her former self as she began to eat. She remembered the first time she, Sasuke, and Naruto had gone with Kakashi to train and he had told them not to eat breakfast. She had tried to diet and had skipped on dinner the night before. She sighed as she remembered the hunger pains. Her head spun as she thought about how Sasuke had never really cared for her anyways, stick thin or curvy. As she finished her breakfast, Sakura wondered if anything had changed between the two of them. He was still emotionless and unforgiving. She was still optimistic and cheerful; yet some-how the two had formed a bond not found in their genin days. Pulling on her sandals, Sakura took one last look at herself before leaving the house and closing the door behind her.

Sasuke lazily opened an eye before rousing from his bed. Tousling his jet black hair, he padded to his bathroom to brush his teeth and wash up for the morning. After walking out of the shower, he looked at the time on the analog clock on his wall. It read 4:35 am. As usual, he hadn't gotten much sleep, but this didn't bother him the least. He silently headed down to his kitchen with the stealth of a tiger. As he walked down the stairs, a picture fell from its roost. Turning around to pick it up, his eyes brightened at the picture. He hadn't smiled in a while, and this was now the closest thing to one in his mind set. The picture was of Team 7 in their chunin days. He and Naruto were glaring at each other while Sakura and Kakashi looked joyfully at the camera. Sasuke hung the picture back up, memories flooding him like an unexpected storm.

There was the time when he and Naruto had competed to see who could climb the farthest up a tree without using their hands, but by controlling their chakra. Sakura had been the first to master it and left Naruto and himself alone. He remembered the awe he had felt when he saw that Sakura, the weakest link of the team, the girl who could do no right, had beaten him. This drove him to train harder and harder until he nearly collapsed, in the end he had won, but Naruto had stubbornly pressed on, believing that one day he would be able to beat Sasuke. Sasuke smirked at the memory. Sakura had surprised him that day and he knew how much she wanted his approval. He shrugged off the nagging feeling he got when he thought of her face.

"She was still too weak. There was no point to tell her that she had done well." He reasoned.

Grabbing an apple, he tossed it in the air a few times before settling down to eat it. He casually tossed the core into the trash before heading out into the silent shopping area.

"Morning young man, what's a boy like you doing up so early?" a shopkeeper who had been setting up his stand for the day's sales greeted Sasuke.

"Good morning. I like getting up early, it helps me think." he told the man.

The shopkeeper nodded, seeming to understand the Uchiha.

"You remind me of myself back in the day. Girl troubles?" he inquired.

Sasuke stopped walking, not wanting to appear rude.

"No. I just wanted to clear my mind of things is all." He replied evenly.

The vendor shrugged, not wanting to intrude about a young man's private life.

"Well any-who, care to buy something? It's all fresh and tastes great." He bartered with a bright smile.

Sasuke sighed. He didn't want to interact with a person so early in the morning.

"No thank you, sir. I need to go train now. But thank you." He said hurriedly.

The man shrugged. "Suit yourself sonny." He told Sasuke before returning to his stand.

Sasuke briskly walked away, not wanting anymore interruptions.

He walked over to the lake where he was to meet Sakura. Judging by the hue of the sky, it was only about 5:45 am. He sighed as he climbed up a massive oak. After all his chakra training he could now easily scale up walls with no resistance. Sasuke sat down on one of the branches and closed his eyes, his mind wandering aimlessly.

_There's nothing wrong in my life. I have no enemies, tons of friends, my jutsu are impeccable, and the only annoying thing would be the fan girls. _He thought. A gentle breeze stirred the air and the soft light of the early morning sky cast a warm gaze on the young ninja. His ebony eyes were closed and on his face was a relaxed state. The white Uchiha shirt and navy pants he wore complimented his lean bodice and only made him look that much more desirable. The scene was ethereal. Sasuke leaned back against the trunk and started counting the seconds.

_1_

_2_

_3 _

_4_

_5_

His mind ceased its thoughts when he heard the sound of someone coming. It was so distant that one might question such a sound, but Sasuke trusted his instinct. A moment later a pink haired girl appeared in the clearing. She sat down against the base of his tree and pulled out a sketch pad from her cherry blossom colored bag. Sasuke looked curiously down at Sakura, unsure if he should make his presence known. But his inquisitiveness got the better of him and he stayed where he was. It was still early for the two of them to meet and Sasuke wanted to know what Sakura was doing out here. She hummed a tuneless melody as she began sketching something that had formed in her mind. Sasuke watched, captivated by the scene in front of him. Sakura was sketching two people, two people with distinct bodies. She carefully drew their outlines and made sure every aspect was just right. Sasuke watched the flick of her wrist as she captured the curves of one of the figures and the slight muscular build of the other. He peered at the tentative strokes of the pencil as Sakura drew in their hair; one with shoulder length, and the other one short. The kunoichi had captivated the ninja and he couldn't help but admire her work. He noticed that she drew the silhouettes of the figures with delicate precision, but had neglected to add faces. His teammate then began to add in the background, a stunning landscape in front of a large body of water. Mountains were distant in the background and a large sun appeared. Color was then added to the striking sketch. The figures became a girl and boy, the mountains became a point of interest to support the focal points, and the sun softly glowed with a light pink hue. The colors blended and swirled, much like the scene in front of them. The whole setting glorified the two still-faceless people. Sakura then put her pencil down, but continued to look at the picture. Sasuke looked on intently, amazed at what he saw next. Sakura had begun to add the facial features and each brush of the pencil made the people stand out more and more. It was not until she had finished the girl that Sasuke understood. Sakura was drawing what she had dreamed of. It was her and Sasuke, in front of the lake, small smiles on their faces with their bodies lightly brushing. Sasuke almost smiled at the picture. Everything had been so easy to her. Finally content with the graphic part of her work, Sakura picked up a calligraphy pen and began to make bold strokes under the figures. 'Sasuke and Sakura' was all it said, but Sakura wrote it in such an elegant script that it was nearly as eye-catching as the picture itself. He watched as he saw her smile, proud of her work. She signed her name on the bottom of her artwork and leaned back against the tree, a content expression upon her face. Sasuke then decided to move. He silently dropped down until he was in front of her and she opened her eyes. Her warm green eyes trailed over his distinct form and a smirk played on his lips.

"You're a terrible ninja if you let someone get this close to you before noticing." He teased.

Sakura shook her head, apparently still in her serene state of mind.

"You're early." Was all she said.

Sasuke walked over to the tree and sat down beside her.

"I couldn't sleep." He told her.

Sakura still didn't move.

"Yeah, you don't do much of that do you?" it was a rhetorical question. Everyone knew that Sasuke hardly slept.

He shrugged, but let his eyes wander to the portrait she had clutched to her chest.

"What's that?" he asked, thought he already knew.

Sakura finally opened her eyes and her mind finally seemed back in place.

"Just a drawing. It's nothing significant." She replied, turning to put it away in her bag.

"Can I see it?" he asked, catching and holding her gaze with his own.

Onyx eyes met green ones, and at that moment Sasuke thought about her eyes. Sakura's eyes had always been interesting. They were green, but a mysterious shade of green. They weren't a cool mint green, but weren't as warm as jades. They weren't so sharp as a jungle green, but not dull like an earthy green. Her eyes were hard to describe and he now noticed what Naruto had seen in their female teammate. Their gaze held him in a trance, his mind hypnotized by their depths and it was not until she looked away first that Sasuke was able to revive himself.

"No, it's ok Sasuke. Don't you have a jutsu you wanted to show me anyway?" Sakura asked, quickly turning around to hide the light flush in her cheeks.

Sasuke didn't want to appear like he cared so he shrugged it off, but did want to get a better look at her work.

"You're going to eat your words once you see this jutsu." He said.

Sakura looked at him, her eyes once again appearing to speak to him. They seemed to say 'if you say so.'

"If this jutsu impresses you, you show me your picture. If not, I promise to never bother you again. Deal?" he bargained.

Sakura looked at the raven-haired boy in earnest. "Deal." She told him and with that the Uchiha got up. He held out his hand to her to help her up and to both of their surprise, she refused. Sasuke then walked over to the lake, Sakura not far behind.

"Prepare to take back what you said about me being weak." He said and turned to face the water.

Sakura didn't answer, but looked intently at the sight. Sasuke concentrated and began to focus his chakra and making the hand signs.

"Fire-style, blazing fury jutsu!" he exclaimed as he breathed a stream of blue fire. The flames actually danced on top of the water and as Sasuke began to move his hands, they moved with him. Sakura was in awe. Not only was the fire so hot it was blue, but Sasuke had infused it with his chakra in a way that he was able to keep it ablaze even on water. Sasuke then closed his eyes and clenched his fists and the flames died down.

"What did you think?" he asked.

Sakura stood rigid. She _had_ been impressed, and there was no use in lying because she was pretty sure the shock was written all over her face. She looked at the smug Uchiha and opened her mouth to speak.

"That was incredible Sasuke! Absolutely amazing!" she cried, throwing her arms into the air and acting like her old self.

Sasuke watched with masked happiness at her smile.

"So I get to see your picture now?" he inquired.

Sakura looked at him head-on, refusing to blush yet again. Sasuke looked at her for a moment before she got up to retrieve her bag. In the next instant she had the picture in her hands and flipped to him.

"Here. It's not good, but you insisted so don't be disappointed." She said trying to hide the embarrassment from her face.

Sasuke took the portrait from her and flipped it to face him. The image was even more surreal up close. He could see the swirl of the colors and the unique blending of the light. The soft features on Sakura matched perfectly with the harsher ones of himself. The scenery that she had drawn seemed to draw attention to the pair rather than away from it and the aristocratic calligraphy of the words shocked him. Everything seemed to compliment rest of the picture and because of that the quiet beauty of the piece burned a memory forever in his brain.

"It's nice." He said simply. He was aware of what an understatement that was.

Sakura bit her lip to keep from crying out. She wasn't an artist and that wasn't her best work, but having Sasuke blatantly tell her that it was only 'nice' tore a hole in her heart. However, she noticed how his eyes lingered on her work and she swore she could see something in his eyes, something like his approval. She shook her head, not wanting to get her hopes up.

"Well anyway, it's not like I'm a professional or anything so of course it's not great." She reasoned, holding out her hand and waiting for the return of her not-so-subtle depiction of her feelings.

Sasuke, however, continued to hold the master piece. When he looked at this drawing he felt something that he hadn't in a while. He felt content, almost happy even.

"Can I keep it?" he asked, surprising himself and Sakura.

"Uh, yeah, I guess." She replied, surprised that he would want something like that useless piece of paper.

Sasuke nodded before turning to her once again.

"Well, I guess I should let you go now. Sorry for making you get here so early." He said briskly.

"It's not that big a deal. I mean, you must be lonely sometimes right?" she blurted and then cursed herself for speaking at all.

Sasuke looked at her in amusement.

"Tch, lonely? Never." He replied with a smirk.

Sakura smiled sheepishly in reply. Just then, a tsunami of shuriken bombarded the two and Sasuke instinctively headed for the trees. Sakura too jumped for cover. A moment later it was quiet and only the uneven stirring of the air revealed that someone was watching their every move.

"Sasuke are you ok?" she hissed when she felt a presence near her.

"I'm fine." He replied flatly.

She noticed that he had her picture folded up and tucked into his shirt and that his charcoal eyes brimmed with rage. In the next instant, a rustling could be heard from the bushes nearby. Sakura kept her eyes trained on the foliage and concluded that the intruder was not there, but somewhere else. Sasuke had caught on as well. _It's a distraction. From the direction the shuriken came from, there's no way he'd be in that bush. So then, where the hell is this guy? _He thought crossly.

"Come on out, kids. You're surrounded." A voice made the two ninja peer through the cover of the leaves. Sakura looked wildly around and saw that it was true, there were at least a hundred clones trapping them. Sasuke saw this too and the fire burned even more intensely in his eyes.

"Sakura, stay here." He commanded as he turned to leave.

"Sasuke, there's way too many of them out there! Do you want to die!" she hissed, grabbing his arm and pulling him back.

"It doesn't matter. These are all clones with one person controlling them, with my sharigan I'll be able to find this amateur in a second." He replied.

Before she could respond, Sasuke vanished. A heartbeat later, Sakura looked forward and saw Sasuke engaged in a battle with another ninja. _Time to prove my worth. _She thought as she leaped into battle. She launched a wave of kunai at the intruder who was currently struggling to keep up with Sasuke's sharigan. The kunais hit their target and the man fell instantly, only to vanish in the next instant to be replaced with a log. _Substitution. _Sakura clenched her fists in frustration.

"Sakura, look out!" at the sound of Sasuke's voice she spun around to come face to face with another ninja, this time it was followed by other, identical ninjas. _Wait a minute. Clones? _Sakura thought rapidly. _The only person I know that can do that while sustaining enough chakra to fool Sasuke's sharigan is… _She narrowed her eyes at the ninja and nimbly dodged his clumsy attack.

"Naruto, I'm gonna kill you!" she yelled as she picked up a large rock nearby and heaved it at him. Naruto jumped out of the way as he transformed back into his usual form.

Sasuke suddenly realized that his teammate had been right. Of course it was Naruto, no other shinobi had the vast amount of chakra it took to be able to summon and maintain a hundred clones.

"Not if I get him first!" Sasuke quickly focused chakra to the palms of his hands, prepared to kill his best friend in a fit of rage.

Sakura heard rather than saw the tell tale sign of Sasuke's chidori and she realized how enraged he must be. However, she couldn't pinpoint his location and thus, could only hope that Naruto would find a way to survive the impact. Meanwhile, Sasuke's mind was off on a tangent. _He caught me off guard, me of all people! I can't believe he did this! He shouldn't have been able to, not at my level of strength. A ninja must never fall into such obvious traps and this is no exception. I'm gonna kill you Naruto._ At these words his chakra increased to nearly three times its usual and he charged the now stunned shinobi.

"Die dobe!" he cried as he prepared to strike him down.

_Gotta move, fast!" _Sakura dashed to Sasuke's side, quickly applying heavy pressure to a vital chakra point in Sasuke's arm. This didn't slow him down or end the chidori, but it did lessen the chakra flow so that maybe Naruto stood a chance at taking the hit. But in that instant, Naruto managed to turn completely around Sasuke and thus dodged the attack. Sasuke however, kept charging and hit the next closest thing; Sakura.

"Sakura!" Naruto and Sasuke cried the moment he made contact with her.

Her lifeless body fell before them and Naruto scampered to her side, Sasuke frozen with shock.

"What the hell Sasuke! Are you trying to kill your friends!" Naruto shouted at his raven haired friend.

Sasuke stood rigid, the chakra from his palms finally ebbing away.

"Sakura, are you alright? Speak to me!" Naruto shook the rosette, gently trying to rouse her.

It was eerily silent for a moment while the two waited to see if she was really dead. Then,

"Naru..to?" she gasped weakly.

Sasuke snapped out of his reverie at the sound of Sakura's voice and he leapt to where his teammates lay. As he approached, Sakura coughed up blood and he knew that she wasn't going to last long in this state.

"We need to get her to the hospital. _Now._" He growled, gesturing to Naruto to hand her over to him.

Naruto complied and the two bounded away, carrying their wounded teammate with them.

At the hospital,, everything had been touch and go with Sakura. Naruto and Sasuke waited anxiously in the room adjacent to the one where Sakura was being treated.

"You want me to wait until she's awake to yell at you for being so stupid?" Naruto seethed.

Sasuke didn't reply and kept his clouded gaze trailed on the ground. After what seemed like hours of waiting a nurse appeared through the door of Sakura's room.

"I don't know what happened and I'm not too sure I want to know. Either way, Sakura Haruno is in stable condition. You may see her now, but don't wake her up." She told the two young men sternly.

They nodded as they quietly crept into the room. Sakura was lying in the bed unconscious, but according to the machine she was attached to, breathing. Sasuke sat down on the chair nearest to her, rubbing his temples in frustration. Naruto sat in the chair next to him, quiet for once.

"I have to go now. I promised Hinata that I would take her out to dinner today. I guess I'll see you around." Naruto said suddenly.

Sasuke looked up at the blonde shinobi in bewilderment, but nodded. "I think I'll stay with her." He told him.

Naruto managed a weak smile before leaving. Sasuke then returned to staring mindlessly at Sakura. Too many questions were going through his mind for them to all be answered. Besides, Sakura was out cold anyway and wouldn't be able to confirm anything. He wasn't sure of how long he sat there, but the last thing he remembered before drifting off into an uneven slumber was the quiet sound of her breathing.

A/N: This is the longest chapter so far! I thought that the other ones were just too short and so I decided to give this one some 'body', as one might put it. Thank you so much for the reviews, they really do help me! I hope that this chapter has been the best one so far because I put so much more effort into it! Reviews would be greatly appreciated!


	7. Smug

_Beep_

_Beep_

_Beep _

_Beep_

Sakura woke up to the sound of the IV machine's rhythmic beeping. She groggily opened her eyes and found herself lying in a hospital bed. _Where am I? What am I doing here? _She thought drowsily as she recalled the day's earlier events. Her eyes shot open as she remembered Sasuke and Naruto's battle. She bolted out of the bed and looked around the room, ignoring the throbbing pain in her head from lack of blood. Her eyes finally landed on the slumped over form of a ninja. His dark hair was slightly roused and his arm was on her bed, flung over carelessly as if he had fallen asleep. Peering closer, Sakura realized that the boy really was asleep and that his breathing was ragged and uneven which suggested he was not at peace.

"Sasuke." She spoke quietly.

The pink haired kunoichi waited patiently for a reply from the stoic boy, afraid that the slightest movement would anger him.

"Sasuke." She gently nudged him and his eyes shot open.

"What? Sakura!" he blinked a few times as he adjusted to his surroundings. "Sakura are you alright?" he asked finally.

"I should be asking you that. What happened?" Sakura asked.

"Naruto and I, we had a fight. And we were about to kill each other when you stepped in. You saved us, but I hit you with my chidori and I thought that you were dead until the dobe saw you breathing." Sasuke, exhausted from his overuse of words abruptly stopped speaking, instead looking at her in wonderment.

"Well Sasuke, I am a trained medic now. I can take care of myself." She retorted.

Sasuke, his calm exterior finally back in place, allowed himself to smirk at her.

"Well good thing you didn't die. Naruto wouldn't have been happy about that." He said.

Sakura willed herself to meet his gaze. It was true that Naruto would have been sad, but what about Sasuke? Did he not care for her?

"Oh, well, thanks I guess." She spoke to the ground.

Sasuke got up and sat down on her bed. Sakura's heart leaped and she nearly fainted from lack of oxygen.

Sasuke leaned over and slowly met her gaze.

"You really are something, aren't you, Sakura-chan?" he said seductively.

Inner Sakura screamed and was jumping up and down. Real Sakura however, kept her emotions in check.

"You should know by now how to decipher Sasuke-speak." He purred.

Sakura felt her breath catch.

"Sasuke." She breathed,

Sasuke leaned forward and Sakura did the same. They were only millimeters apart now. Only a small space between their faces until…

_Bam! _

The loud opening of the door reeled Sakura from her dream world and to where Sasuke sat. He hadn't moved an inch or said anything. It was all a day dream. Inner Sakura cursed loudly, angered that she hadn't gotten a kiss from Sasuke after all.

"What do you want, Naruto?" she seethed once she saw the blond shinobi in front of them.

"I was just seeing if you were ok Sakura." He replied simply.

"Naruto!" she raised her fist at him, ready as ever to take his head off his shoulders.

"Ahh! She's gonna kill me!" the blond ninja frantically ran around the room, dodging her blows.

"How are you even up? You shouldn't be conscious let alone chasing me!" he whined as he continued to avoid Sakura's assault.

"Stop it Sakura and you to Naruto." Sasuke said finally.

His two friends froze and he glared at them in turn.

"Dobe, what do you want?" Sasuke looked at him.

Naruto glared at Sasuke, scorn clear on his face.

"I wanted to check up on Sakura. You did nail her with your chidori." He reminded Sasuke pointedly as Sakura flinched at his words.

"I'm fine, really Naruto. You don't need to worry about me." She defended Sasuke.

"Fine my ass." Naruto narrowed his eyes and looked at the Uchiha. "What the hell were you thinking? Charging me with that? Were you _trying _to kill me!"

"Yeah, I was. You were the one that snuck up on us to begin with. You're lucky I didn't hit you." Sasuke brushed off Naruto's words.

Naruto clenched his fists and he barred his fangs.

"So a moment of impulse was all it took for you to plan my death? To plant out a _comrade's _death! What the hell if wrong with you Sasuke, I thought we were friends!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto, calm down. And would one of you please tell me what happened?" Sakura pleaded.

Naruto ignored her and continued screaming at Sasuke.

"You think that you're such a great shinobi, that you're so powerful. But what kind of ninja would let a teammate die _at their hands? _What are you Sasuke, because from what I saw today you are not human! I always thought that you would come around one day and I guess I was right for a little while, but what now, huh Sasuke? Damn! How could you hurt Sakura like that!" Naruto finally finished, breathing heavily.

Sasuke felt himself recoil at what Naruto had said. _So this whole time it wasn't about me. It was about Sakura. _He realized.

"I'm fine Naruto." Sakura insisted, almost whining.

Naruto looked at her for a moment before taking a deep breath and calming down.

"Whatever, Sasuke. I'm outta here." And with that he sent an apologetic look at Sakura before walking angrily out the door.

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other in wonder.

"Don't forget about tomorrow." Sasuke said and with that followed Naruto.

Sakura sat there in bewilderment. A few hours later she was discharged from the hospital and decided to walk home and sleep.

Sakura ran her fingers through her short, pink tresses, rolling her eyes when she encountered a knot. With a sigh, she picked up her brush and began to work it through the snag. _Ichiraku's at ten. _She reminded herself. Her stomach growled in anticipation of the morning's meal. Quickly putting on a dark green shirt and burnt yellow ninja pants, she walked briskly out the door.

"Hello Sakura, meeting Naruto today?" Ichiraku's owner Teuchi asked as he walked over to her.

"Uh no sir. I'm waiting for Sasuke, actually." She replied, looking at the menu and trying to decide what she wanted to eat.

Teuchi nodded in understanding while starting up the stove. A moment later, the dark haired Uchiha emerged from behind the curtain and both turned around to greet him.

"You're early." He said to Sakura.

Sakura shrugged. "Not any earlier than usual." She said plainly.

"Hn." And with that Sasuke took the seat next to her.

"Have you decided yet?" Teuchi asked as he noticed Sasuke's blank stare on the menu.

"Yes, I'll have some diet shrimp ramen please." Sakura said.

Teuchi nodded before looking at Sasuke.

"I'll have the kimchi flavored ramen with extra spice." He said lacing his fingers together and resting his chin on his hands.

"You got it. Two ramen coming right up!" Teuchi said joyously as he turned to cook the noodles.

"You know the word diet and ramen don't mix, right Sakura?" Sasuke stated simply.

Sakura felt a light blush creep on her cheeks. "Yeah, but what are you going to do about it?" she said defensively. She flinched as she realized how sharp the words came out.

But Sasuke just shrugged. "It's not doing anything for anyone so why bother?" he asked rhetorically.

Sakura fought the urge to smack his irresistibly sexy face.

_Damn that Sasuke. _She cursed.

Sasuke smirked, clearly he had done something to irk her.

"Here you go. Eat up!" Teuchi exclaimed whole-heartedly as he handed two bowls to the pair.

"How can you eat that?" Sakura asked, incredulous as Sasuke immediately began digging into his noodles.

Sasuke looked up, raising his eye brows at her. Sucking in the rest of his mouthful, he calmly wiped his mouth before turning to her.

"I could ask you the same thing." He said to her plain looking tan broth and pitiful shrimp.

"I asked first." Sakura replied tartly.

"It's food so I eat it. Besides, it's spicy and hot, the only way ramen should be eaten." He said in his usual cool manner.

He slurped another mouthful as if to make his point and Sakura looked quizzically at him.

"You want to try some?" he asked, smirking as he knew she would refuse.

Sakura suppressed the urge to screw up her face at his offer, instead she surprised them both and nodded.

_Now she's going to take my food and that diet crap is going to be wasted. Great. _Sasuke thought bitterly as he held out a mouthful of noodles to her.

Sakura leaned over and tried some of his super spicy ramen, nearly choking on the flavor. She swallowed the hot noodles quickly, gasping for air once she finished it.

"That tastes awful." She said once she had caught her breath.

Sasuke inwardly laughed. "Doesn't matter, it's not your food anyway." And with that he shoveled more into his mouth.

"Ok hot shot. I tried your crap ramen, it's your turn to try diet." Sakura said smugly.

Sasuke looked at her. "I never agreed to that." He said.

Sakura glared at him in return and with a sigh Sasuke picked up her bowl and tried some of her diet ramen. He swallowed it quickly and calmly picked up his bowl, drinking the whole broth before turning back to her.

"That tasted like crap." He said to Sakura.

Sakura sighed. "Whatever Sasuke." And with that she got to eating her ramen.

After she was finished eating, Sasuke left the money on the table and they walked outside.

"See what it's like to get special treatment?" he hissed.

Sakura jumped in surprise.

"Fine." She said before letting him walk her home.

Once they were in front of her house, she thanked him before walking inside.  
"Bye Sakura-chan." He said almost mockingly.

"Bye Sasuke-kun." She said sarcastically.

A/N: Ok, so I don't really know how well this chapter turned out. And while we're on the topic of being honest, I just wanted to say that this story was originally going to be a two-shot but all your reviews just egged me on! Thank you so much everyone!


	8. Some Things Never Change

Sakura opened her closet door and peered inside in surprise. Inside, piles of pink clothes lined the shelf.

_Pink? _She thought in awe.

"I must have forgotten to do the laundry. Oh well, there has to be something in here." She said, determined.

She scrounged around until she finally found a burnt orange dress with a dragon lacing up the side. Pulling it free from the mountain of rose colored material, she tried the stiff fabric on. It had been a present from Ino for her last birthday. Being orange, Sakura had cast it away in the depths of her closet, determined to never let it see the light of day again. However, now that she thought about it, it was a silly idea. She couldn't go on wearing pink forever, in fact, she hadn't worn it at all since she started going on those amusing "dates" with Sasuke. The pink haired kunoichi tied her hair up with her headband and walked freely to her door, not even looking at herself before leaving.

Sasuke lay on his bed, his arms propped behind his head and his eyes closed as his mind wandered. A thousand thoughts came to mind, each one vying for his attention. Sakura, Naruto, Itachi, the clan, the massacre, Orochimaru, betrayal, all these thoughts and more converged into his head and kept him from relaxing.

"Damnit." He cursed as he sat up, ruffling his dark locks in the process.

_I can't even relax around here, in my own home. _His fists balled up instinctively and he forced himself to calm down. There wasn't even anything for him to get worked up about. He let his eyes wander to his wall and they landed on a hole bore into it.

"Naruto." He hissed when he remembered the night he had thrown a kunai at his friend. But not, everything was different. Naruto had called him not human. Because of his actions he was labeled a cold blooded murderer by his so-called friend.

_Maybe I am a killer. _Sasuke thought as he looked at his hands.

_Are these the hands of an assassin? Do I have murder in my blood? _Sasuke abruptly stopped his train of thought. Things could only get worse from there.

Just then, his alarm clock rang and he thought about what that signified.

_Two o'clock today. Meet Sakura, of course. _He narrowed his eyes at the prospect and felt enveloped by rage. What had she ever done for him? Help him? Certainly not! She had always been a nuisance. Love him? Who needed love when you had power, especially as much power as he did. Sasuke grabbed a kunai and threw it again at his wall. He watched as it left another mark. Spinning another one on his finger, Sasuke resisted the urge to impale his wall with the objects, unsure of the reason why.

"I need to train." He decided and with that he walked outside to the academy's training grounds.

Sakura wandered up to the tree where she sat waiting aimlessly for Sasuke to arrive.

"I'm sure he'll be here soon." She thought out loud to herself.

A moment later, she heard the sound of footsteps coming close to her.

"Hey Sakura!" Ino called.

Sakura fought to keep her composure. It was only Ino.

"Hey, Ino. What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Oh nothing. I was just taking a break from working. Customers have been coming nonstop for the longest time. I mean, I love it, but I need to take a breather sometimes." The blond kunoichi rambled. "What about you? Are you waiting for someone?" she asked Sakura curiously.

"Uh yeah, actually I'm waiting for Sasuke. He was supposed to meet me here half an hour ago." Sakura frowned as she realized how much time had passed.

Ino smiled uncharacteristically. The two had gotten over their fight and were mostly ok with Sasuke never having a female preference. Ino had simply given up on him after he defected from the village, but Sakura had never given up on him. Ino felt that her devotion to him earned her the right to his heart and since, they had stopped their pointless and bitter rivalry.

"I'm sure he'll be here soon. Anyways, I have to get back. My mom will be worried if another barrage of customers comes. See you!" Ino called as Sakura bid her friend good bye.

Sakura sighed. "I guess he's not coming." And with that she headed to the training grounds to relieve her frustrations.

Sasuke threw another shuriken at a tree, not even paying attention to where it landed. For the past half an hour he had done nothing but train, yet his body still didn't feel satisfied. The raw burning feeling of muscles being pushed to their limits hadn't fazed him and because of it, he was feeling less than content.

_Damnit. No matter what I do, I can't shake the feeling of inferiority. _Not sure as to why he felt that way, Sasuke drew another shuriken and tossed it in the direction of a bird. It whirled just out of reach and Sasuke felt his fists clench.

Just then, a kunai grazed his shoulder and another landed on his arm.

"What the-?" Sasuke whirled around to see Sakura emerging from the bushes.

"Sasuke?" she asked, incredulous.

"Sakura, what are you doing here?" he asked as he pulled the kunai free, wincing in pain.

"Sasuke! You need to get to the hospital right now!" Sakura said urgently, grabbing her comrade and pulling him in the direction of the hospital.

"Let go of me." Sasuke said icily and wrenched his arm from Sakura's grasp. "I'm fine." He said.

Sakura glared daggers at him. "I was practicing my aim and that tree was my target." She motioned to the tree that had been behind Sasuke when he was struck. Sasuke looked at her casually.

"Those kunai you were hit with were laced with poison. Do you want to die a painful death or would you care for an antidote?" Sakura barked.

Sasuke felt his blood boil. Twice now he had been struck by his formerly weak teammate. There was no reason for his woes. If he was so strong, then he wouldn't have been distracted enough to have been hit in the first place.

"Why don't you go home? I'll take care of myself." He retorted.

Sakura felt her face turn red in rage.

"Do you want to die Sasuke? Does your life hold no more meaning for you that you want to die this way?" she asked sharply.

Sasuke shrugged off her cool tone. "Just go home. And shouldn't you be moping about how I stood you up?" he asked briskly.

Sakura had had enough of his superiority. She grabbed his wrist and twisted it, satisfied when she saw a flash of pain on his face.

"Damn you, stupid Uchiha." She hissed.

Sasuke retaliated by throwing a shuriken with his good arm. He never imagined that he would fight his teammate, but now was as good a time as any. Besides, she had made the first blow so it wasn't really his fault. Sakura easily dodged the shuriken and ran at him, her fist glowing with chakra. Sasuke readied his Sharingan and evaded her attack. There was no way she was going to win with simple tai jutsu. Sakura charged at him again and once more Sasuke avoided her attack. He quickly countered with a blow to her shoulder and smirked as he realized that he had caught her. Just then a pain in his arm forced the Uchiha to reel back in pain.

_The poison. _He remembered as he landed on his back.

Sakura took advantage of the situation and quickly touched his arm with her palms. Sasuke braced himself for the impact, but was surprised when instead, she healed his wound. Sasuke looked at her in wonderment.

"You didn't think I would really use poison on a tree did you?" Sakura taunted as she sat down gently beside him.

"Tch." Was his only response.


	9. Not Kisses in the Rain

A/N: Thank you all who reviewed! They mean so much to me! Ok, for this next chapter you won't believe how hard it was to write. Some-how I had to make Sasuke say words like "fun" and "hang out", words that I could never ever picture him saying. I hope it wasn't OOC because I really am not a fan of that. But anyways, I hope this is good enough for you! Thanks again and as always, please feel free to review!

Sakura opened her blinds on the gloomy and clouded day with a sigh.

_What a great day to go out. _She thought sarcastically.

It was now Friday and Sasuke had invited her to go to the bench near the entrance of Konoha. Overall, it wasn't going to be pleasant. Sakura frowned slightly as she walked back from the hospital. It was only one o clock but she was meeting Sasuke at two and hadn't wanted to be late. The hospital wasn't too busy either, which was in her favor because she didn't want to have to cancel on him. Once in front of her house, she dug in her pocket for the key and slowly walked up the stairs. It was a bit humid and a storm was suggesting its presence. In her room, the kunoichi opened one of her drawers and pulled out a short, sparkling grey kimono with gold glittered lacing. The dress perfectly matched her mood; somber with a bit of hope. She pulled it over a pair of black pants and looked at her hair in the mirror. All day she had been running around the hospital, working hard so that she could go home and now her locks were slightly tangled. With a quick run through her pink brush the now tame layers laid flat against her head, sleek and smooth. She pulled them up into a bun and stuck two moon-endowed hair picks through them.

"Perfect." Sakura noted with a sad smile on her face.

It wasn't as if she was ungrateful with Sasuke. It just seemed that he was too hard to predict. She knew that today would be the day that she finally did what she should have done all those years ago. She was going to leave before Sasuke broke her heart again. Of course, she could wait until their last and final date of the week, but now seemed more appropriate. She could feel herself falling for him again and knew that she was too weak to resist his advances. If all he wanted her for now was for someone to mess with, well, then he'd just have to find someone else because after this, Sasuke would only be a fond memory to her.

"I like Sasuke, I do, but he's just too…complicated." She said trying to reassure herself. "It's for your own good Sakura. He's no good for you." She said shaking her head slightly. In her mind, she imagined Sasuke just looking at her with cold eyes, having no response to what she was going to say.

"Good bye Sasuke-kun!" she tried to make it teasing and light hearted, but it sounded fake, even to her. "Good bye Sasuke." She whispered and shook her head again. Too dramatic, after-all, she was still going to be here.

She finally managed a small smile. _Look at me, rehearsing this. I really am pathetic. _

And with that, she slipped on her silver flats which had only been worn once before, and locked the door behind her.

Sasuke sat hunched over his plate of steaming hot ramen, his eyes staring emotionlessly at the noodles.

"Hey teme, you gonna eat that?" Naruto asked with his mouth half full.

The two had made up soon after their blow out and all it had taken was for Sasuke to promise his life-time rival a treating out to ramen the previous day. Naruto, not one to say no to ramen agreed and the two had a some-what civilized conversation with only minor language and resulted in only on party getting injured. Of course, Naruto had healed up and yet again they were here.

"What did you want to talk to me about dobe?" Sasuke replied, ignoring his friend's question.

Naruto hurriedly swallowed his ramen before proceeding.

"It's about you and Sakura." He began seriously.

Sasuke looked at him in masked curiosity. What did Naruto know about his and Sakura's relationship?

"You see Sasuke, women are difficult to understand. Sometimes they nag you about things you have no idea about and other times they're really great. But I want you to know this," Naruto looked around as if he were about to share something important with Sasuke.

Satisfied that they weren't being eavesdropped on, Naruto leaned closer and spoke at regular volume to Sasuke. "If you want to get in Sakura's pants I'm sure there are easier ways than whatever you're doing!" and with that Naruto doubled over in laughter.

Sasuke's temple throbbed and he resisted the urge to hurl a kunai at his annoying friend.

"Dobe, shut up." He retorted hotly.

Chuckling to himself, Naruto resumed eating.

"I'm only doing this because I want to mess with her." Sasuke assured him.

In all honestly, Sasuke wasn't sure why he had asked Sakura out. In fact, all week the reason had eluded him and it had driven him mad and made him more irritable than usual. Sasuke glanced at the clock mounted on the wall and saw that it was one thirty already. He was supposed to meet Sakura in half an hour.

"Do you two have a date later today?" Naruto asked, making a kissy face as he noticed Sasuke's glance at the clock.

"Dobe." Sasuke muttered and gave his friend a sharp slap on the back, nearly making him spit out his ramen. And with that got up to exit the store.

"Sasuke." Naruto called after him.

Sasuke turned around to face him.

"I was joking earlier, but I'm serious this time. If you hurt Sakura again, I won't let you get away with it, I swear." He promised the Uchiha.

"Fine." Sasuke scoffed before walking out and leaving his untouched bowl of ramen for Naruto to deal with.

Sakura looked up from where she was walking to see a dark haired shinobi sitting at the bench in front of her.

"Sasuke." She greeted him, taking the seat beside him.

"Sakura." He said in the same clipped tone.

Sakura braced herself to tell him what she had planned.

"Sasuke, I need to tell you something." She began cautiously.

"I need to tell you something first." He said, to her surprise.

"What is it Sasuke?" she asked, afraid of what he was going to say.

Sasuke didn't answer, just gave a smirk and got up.

"It'll have to wait until later. For now, let's have fun." He said extending his hand out to her.

Sakura felt her breath catch. She had never heard Sasuke say anything so simply before and now she couldn't break it off with him. It would be too painful.

_After we have our fun. _She determined and reached out to grab his hand.

"Right. Let's just have fun today." She said smiling.

The weather was terrible for "having fun" but none the less, Sasuke had something planned. They had arrived at a small fair on the outskirts of the town. It was a traveling circus and they had gotten unlucky with the weather.

"Hey kids! You guys want to play a game? How about you my man, you look like a lucky fellow!" bellowed a large man wearing a red striped apron over navy blue clothes. He gestured to a stack of rings and an assortment of prizes.

"Whichever one you land on you win. Oh and no ninja skills." He said noticing Sasuke's shuriken holster.

Sasuke looked at Sakura who in turn nodded gleefully at the prospect of winning.

"I bet I can beat you Sasuke." She challenged.

Sasuke almost smiled at the thought. "Not a chance." He stated simply and grabbed a ring after paying the man.

There were five prizes ranging from small to medium sized and Sasuke thought about which one he actually cared to win.

_None. _He thought blandly and effortlessly tossed his ring over a medium panda bear.

The man in charge looked amused. "Nice job sonny! Here ya go." He said, handing Sasuke the prize.

Sakura then prepared to take a turn. Sasuke watched intently as she gauged the distance between her and the next prize, a milky white bear with a tan mask of fur over its eyes. With a simple flick of her wrist the ring glided over top of the bear before settling down on its neck. Sakura grinned.

"I'm pretty good, aren't I?" she taunted, looking at Sasuke.

"Hn." Though he acknowledged his teammate's skill he knew that she was still hardly a match for him.

And so the day went by with Sakura and Sasuke having easy, meaningless competitions to see who could win the most prizes. By the end of the day Sakura had fifteen and Sasuke won with eighteen.

"Looks like you're not as great as you think you are." He said mockingly as he and Sakura exited the fair, dragging their burdens behind them.

Sakura sighed. "Yeah well, I'll win next time!" she said happily.

"Hn." Sasuke replied, looking up at the sky.

On their way home they passed a hospital and because neither Sakura nor Sasuke had wanted the bags of prizes, had dropped them off.

"It looks like there's going to be a huge storm." Sakura noted, looking up at the sky.

They had gotten lucky, though the clouds threatened to unleash a torrent of rain, none so far had occurred. However, now the sky was nearly pitch black even though it was only six o'clock.

"Let's get out of here." Sasuke stated and briskly began walking towards Konoha.

Sakura matched his quick pace and the two walked in comfortable silence for a bit.

_Wow, this day was really fun. Maybe I don't have to end things. _Sakura thought hopefully.

_The storm is coming from the west, but it's moving too rapidly for us not to get drenched. If we take the longer route we should be able to avoid the worst of the storm. _Sasuke brain stormed and after a moment of deliberation, stopped.

"What is it Sasuke?" Sakura asked, noticing his still form still looking up at the sky.

"We need to go the long way around if we want to avoid the brute of the storm." He informed her.

Sakura pursed her lips together in thought.

_I don't want the day with Sasuke to end, but I don't like the cliché kisses in the rain part. _She thought. A moment later she forced herself not to slap her forehead. "Who said anything about kisses." she mumbled incoherently. "Let's go then." She finally agreed.

Sasuke nodded and quickened his pace as she dashed through the trees to follow. By the time they had made it back to the village, the rain was just starting to clear up.

"It's nearly 9." Sakura noted.

Sasuke didn't reply, but nodded.

"Sakura, I want to show you something." He said to her.

Sakura looked surprised.

"What do you want to show me?" she asked and again he didn't answer, just walked away, knowing that she would follow.

"Here." He stopped when they were near the entrance to Konoha.

It was then that Sakura knew what was going on.

"The bench." She said almost sadly once her eyes casted over the painful memory.

Sasuke gently walked over and sat down, motioning for her to sit next to him. Sakura followed, unaware of what was going to happen next.

"Sasuke, what's going on?" she asked.

"Look up." He replied evenly and Sakura gasped.

The sky was filled with a hundred twinkling stars, each one brighter than the last.

"Here." Sasuke said, looking down at something in his lap.

Sakura looked at him, confused as he handed her a thick manila piece of paper.

"See that star?" he asked and guided her to a large, pink star in the sky.

"Yeah." She replied.

"It's a red giant about fifty million light years away. That's why it's so light in color. I call it the Faith star because you never lost faith in me even after all that I put you through." It was the most romantic thing Sasuke had ever come close to saying.

Sakura looked at the latter in her hands and was pleasantly surprised to discover that Sasuke's star was really named Faith.

"What do you want me to do with this?" she asked, incredulous.

Sasuke shrugged. "Just frame it and look at it I guess."

Sakura's mouth hung open, no doubt annoyed with his cluelessness. However, he soon gave her a smirk.

"Treasure it." He said seriously this time and Sakura nodded.

"I should go." He said and got up to leave.

"Bye." She replied and a moment later he was gone.

"Good bye, Sasuke." Sakura whispered.


	10. Sugarfree Strawberries

A/N: Thank you so much to all those who have been continuously reading this story. Some-how the format is different when I upload it then from when I type it. I'm not too sure why it happens, but that's life, right? Anyways, please enjoy this chapter, and once again, thank you to everyone!

-o0o-

Sakura Haruno quickly ran to the ice cream parlor, her mane of pink hair streaming out behind her.

"I am so late!" she exclaimed as she bobbed and weaved around pedestrians.

Sakura had been working overtime at the hospital because a group of jounin had just come back from a nearly failed mission to the land of Waves. It wasn't long after she had finished treating the last patient that she remembered her date with Sasuke. It was now Saturday and nearly four thirty in the afternoon. As soon as she had realized what time it was, Sakura had told Lady Tsunade and was allowed to leave. She was lucky that she always kept an extra set of civilian clothes in her bag when she was working; it had saved her time. Now, she hurried to the ice cream parlor, clueless as to why Sasuke, who had never liked sweets, would ask her there.

_Maybe he's changed? _She thought hopefully.

Either way, she would find out in about ten seconds. Pausing a moment in front of the door to catch her breath, Sakura smoothed down her hair and after counting to three, pumped the door and walked in.

Sasuke was sitting in a booth near the far end of the parlor, his fingers knit together with his chin resting on them.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. The hospital was crazy busy." Sakura attempted a small smile.

"I wasn't expecting you to be early anyways." Sasuke replied placidly.

Sakura felt a tug on her heart strings, Sasuke would be warm and inviting one day and icy cold the next.

"Look Sasuke, if you don't want to be here, then fine. I've had one hell of a day and I'm not in the mood to deal with your crap." She huffed.

Sasuke smirked.

"Hn. Let's eat, ok Sakura-chan?" he seemed to enjoy teasing her when she was angry.

Sakura fumed, but walked over to the counter anyway.

The cashier, like every female that had ever laid eyes on Sasuke, ogled him when he approached.

"What can I get for you?" she asked flirtatiously.

"One sugar-free vanilla with extra strawberries." He said in his usual monotone.

The cashier continued beaming as she scooped his ice cream. Sakura made a face at his request.

"You sound like a girl on a diet with that order. Sugar-free?" she chastised him.

"I don't like sugar." He replied and Sakura stuck her tongue out at him.

"One strawberry with extra whipped cream please." She asked once the cashier had returned with Sasuke's order.

"Besides, I thought you said that your favorite flavor was strawberry like mine?" she noted.

"I lied." He stated as he tried to pay for their orders.

"Free of charge." The cashier winked and he nodded his thanks.

The two walked back to their table and Sakura eagerly dove into her ice cream, savoring the richness. Sasuke took a small bite of the vanilla before picking up a strawberry.

"What a waste." Sakura mumbled, noticing his untouched ice cream.

Sasuke shrugged, it wasn't as if he paid for it. He popped another strawberry into his mouth. Sakura licked her lips devilishly, in a navy t-shirt and black ninja pants; Sasuke was just too pretty for his own good.

"Having fun?" he asked, noticing her taking in his lean form.

"Yeah." She said sarcastically. "So what even brought you to ask me out anyways Sasuke?" she asked finally.

"Out of boredom." He told her.

Sakura clenched her fists, about to pummel him into the ground. If he had only asked her out because he wanted to break her heart for his own amusement, well, then he'd be a dead man. A very sorry, dead man.

"You're wearing pink." Sasuke noted, interrupting her rage.

Sakura blinked, unsure that she had heard him correctly.

"What?" she asked.

"You haven't worn pink at all since the beginning of the week." He informed her.

"Glad you've noticed, Uchiha." She smirked, taking another bite of her nearly finished ice cream.

She watched as Sasuke picked up another strawberry, but let the ice cream sit. His lips were turning a delectable red now and Sakura fought to keep her inner fan girl in check.

_Damn you Sasuke. _She swore.

Suddenly, his lips curved into his signature smirk and her green eyes met his obsidian ones. They seemed to be flickering in amusement. Or was it mocking? She didn't know, but was aware that they were hypnotizing her, keeping her frozen. She fought against the power of his eyes and managed to look away, unsuccessfully trying to hide the blush that crept on her cheeks. She quickly shoveled the rest of her ice cream into her mouth to cool her face down. "Ahh." She exclaimed, freezing her brain, but cooling her flushed visage.

Sasuke's ice cream was melted into a milkshake now, but he still hadn't touched it. The only evidence that he had eaten at all was the reddened color of his lips.

_Oh no. Not again. _ Sakura scolded herself.

Sasuke stared at the fruit between his fingers absentmindedly, completely unaware of Sakura's turmoil.

"So why _are _you wearing pink anyway, Sakura?" he asked nonchalantly.

Sakura pinched her leg in an attempt to focus.

"Uhh, because I was running late at the hospital and I didn't have anything else to wear." She replied honestly.

"Hn." And he patiently ate another strawberry.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "Why do you even care?" she asked almost pointedly.

Sasuke looked at her, taking noticed in her for the first time. Her pink hair had grown out, though it wasn't as long as it had been during their genin days. Her emerald green eyes no longer sparkled with flirtation, but were now knowledgeable and seemingly tired.

"You had a long day?" he asked, noticing her some-what disheveled state.

Sakura sighed. "Yeah." She replied.

Sasuke felt a frown appear on his face. "Why did you even bother going out with me if you don't even like me anymore?" he asked.

Sakura was surprised by his question, she had never assumed that he would care.

"I kind of want things to go back to the way they used to be when you, me, and Naruto were just genin. Sure I was weak I certainly don't miss that, but I liked it when everyone was close. He worked so hard to bring you back to the village and I wanted you to change so much when in reality, it was me that needed changing. I guess that by going out with you, I hoped to relive those happier times." She explained.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows at her in masked astonishment.

"You thought you needed to change?" he asked and she nodded.

"All I ever did was chase after you when I should have been working on my jutsu and training. No matter what I did it was never enough for you because I never _did _enough. Even though I was the best at the tree climbing exercise it didn't make me a better ninja. And for that I have to say that I have Naruto to thank for that. He believed in me when no one else did and he constantly gave me hope." She told him.

"Huh, looks like the knuckle-head finally did something right." He said calmly with a small smile on his face.

"What did he do right?" Sakura asked.

"He took care of you." He replied capturing her eyes with his own.

At that moment Sakura wanted to kiss him so badly. He had never said anything so nice about Naruto before. However, she held back and helped herself to his rapidly diminishing pile of strawberries.

"I love strawberries." She smiled.

"Hn." Was his stoic response.

Sakura smiled as she picked up the last one.

"If you want it, you'll have to get it from me." She cooed flirtatiously as she dangled the red berry in front of him.

Sasuke watched as she gently placed the berry between her slightly red lips. He rolled his eyes at her before getting up to throw away his melted ice cream.

"You're so annoying." He replied, not even trying to take the strawberry.

Sakura felt her heart fall into an abyss at his words and she quickly ate her stole prize.

"You don't really think that I'd kiss you, do you?" He asked almost harshly.

Sakura flinched.

"Of course not because you're an Uchiha bastard." And with that she ran out of the parlor, not even caring that she hadn't said good bye.

A/N: Well, what did you think? If you haven't realized this by now, I've been working on keeping Sasuke in character so if some of the dialogue sounds a bit weird, blame it on me. Some things are just not meant for Sasuke to say. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter and thanks so much for all the reviews!


	11. Strength

Sakura Haruno sat up in her bed, her chin rested on her knees.

_Damn Sasuke. _She cursed her former flame as she looked at the clock. It read two in the morning.

Just a few hours ago he had broken her heart for the hundredth time. Remembering his cold exterior brought tears to the sensitive kunoichi's eyes.

_Stop crying Sakura. Look at all those strong kunoichi out there; Tenten, Temari, _Tsunade_, and even Hinata. They probably never cry. _She scolded herself and forced the tears to stop.

She took a deep breath and walked over to sit on the ledge of the window, staring out at the full moon. The outside world was lit by the moon, everything looking fragile and as if they were mere illusions. As Sakura looked out at the ethereal painting, she thought about her life after Sasuke's deflection from the village. Sure, she had moped around for a while, not responding to people's invitations to parties and such, but she had gotten over it. Though the one thing that never happened was falling in love. She never dated another boy, even when Ino tried to make her give up on Sasuke. It wasn't that she was being stubborn, she just felt too strongly attached to him to give up. Her feelings ran deeper than anyone else's. They didn't understand what it was like to lose a teammate, all they saw was the gorgeous boy of their dreams leaving. Many fan-girls had been upset and paraded around the town nonstop for days chanting 'Bring Sasuke Home' and it drove Sakura insane. Sure, Sasuke had always been the bad-boy type, with his cool exterior and devilishly handsome looks, it was easy to see. But no one knew _who _he was. Sakura knew though. She knew about his passion to avenge his clan, she knew about his hatred towards his brother, above all she knew about his pain. The heart-broken girl smiled at the memory.

-o0o-

It had been the anniversary of the Uchiha Clan Massacre and from the moment she walked onto the bridge, she knew that this was going to be a hard day. Sasuke was already there, as usual, leaning against the railing of the bridge, throwing something into the water. He looked impassive doing so and Sakura didn't understand why. Naruto had yet to arrive.

"Hello Sasuke." Sakura greeted gently.

"Hn." Sasuke continued to throw something into the water.

"I'm sorry about today." She began.

He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and began ripping it to shreds, throwing the shreds into the river beneath them, not answering her.

"What is that?" she asked, finally unable to stand the curiosity anymore.

"Letters from some girls wishing me sympathy." He replied, not looking her in the eye.

Sakura watched as the papers floated gently downstream until they were past her field of vision. As she watched, Sasuke pulled out more and more papers, ceremoniously ripping each one into a hundred pieces before tossing them into the water.

"How many are there?" she asked, incredulous as he began tearing up yet another letter.

"My mailbox was full of them this morning, there are tons." He said scowling.

"Oh." She whispered, glad that she hadn't taken the time to write to him. "Did you read any of them?"

"No." he said and began staring at the clouds, seemingly finished with his task at hand.

"Sasuke, those girls worked hard on those letters and you just shred them without a second thought? How can you be so cruel?" she chastised him.

Sasuke looked at her with a dull fire in his eyes.

"I never asked for those letters. They don't mean anything to me if someone decides to take the time and write me." He told her firmly.

Sakura gasped at his icy attitude and walked over to gently touch his arm.

"You don't have to be so cold all the time." She said, daring herself to look into his obsidian depths.

Sasuke shook her off, his head looking at his feet.

"You don't know anything." He hissed.

Sakura closed her eyes to trap the tears forming. From that split second her eyes had made contact with his, she could see the emotion that was masked beneath the coldness. She saw how badly and how much this day was going to hurt him. Later on, during their training, Sasuke had pushed himself farther than usual. It was as if the only way he was going to be content was if he was passed out from exhaustion. Afterward, when Naruto and Kakashi had gone home, Sakura noticed that Sasuke wasn't going his usual and silently followed him. If he noticed her, he didn't show it because soon they were in front of the lake by the Uchiha compound. There, Sasuke sat for the whole night, unmoving and in silence. She longed to comfort him, but knew that such a move would be foolish. Instead, once the sun had gone down, she had crept away.

-o0o-

Sakura managed a small smile. That was the day that she had fallen in love with him, the day that he had let her see the human side of him.

-o0o-

Sasuke Uchiha sat up on his bed, finally giving up on his efforts to sleep. He had been tossing and turning in his bed for the past few hours and was now fully awake. Throwing off the covers, he decided to take a walk; the sky was lit brightly by the full moon anyway.

Walking along the empty streets of Konoha, he thought about Sakura. It wasn't that he felt bad for her, she knew that he would always be cold and stoic yet she still chased after him. No, the thing that bugged him the most was the fact that she had called him an 'Uchiha bastard". He had never done anything to her. Sure, he was morose and consumed with negative energy, but she had known that. Why would she go out with him and expect anything less? Sasuke stopped to throw a kunai at a nearby tree, barely missing the ninja stationed behind it.

"You can come out now Kiba. I can smell you from here, take a bath or something." He hissed.

From behind the tree came Kiba Inuzuka and the ever-present Akamaru. Kiba scoffed, fingering the kunai Sasuke had just thrown.

"What are you doing out here anyway?" Kiba scoffed, taking in Sasuke's tensed form.

"Walking and I guess that it would be common courtesy to ask you the same?" Sasuke replied, irritated.

Kiba laughed, turning to face the Uchiha. "Akamaru and I were working on tracking at night. If we can get it perfect, mission times will be cut in half!" he explained eagerly.

"Hn. Well don't let me stop you." He replied and turned around.

"Hey Sasuke." Kiba's words stopped the Uchiha dead in his tracks.

"Yeah?" he asked passively.

"Did something happen between you and Sakura?" the dog boy asked.

Sasuke froze completely, getting even more tense.

"We saw you guys at the ice cream parlor. 'Course, it was only the part where she was yelling at you." Kiba explained.

Sasuke took a breath. "It's none of your concern." He replied in a tone that would ward off any gossip lovers.

Kiba raised his eye brows at him. "It sure didn't look like it. What's up with you anyway?" he wanted to know.

Sasuke finally turned around to face him. "I don't want to talk about it." He said firmly.

Kiba scoffed as Akamaru barked once. "Geez, for someone who has every girl in Konoha falling for him, you sure have some trouble in that department!" he laughed.

Sasuke felt his temple throb. He hated attention being called to his charms. "Whatever, Inuzuka. Go home already and quite bothering me." He retorted.

Kiba looked at him seriously for a moment. "Well whatever it is, you had better fix it before Ino gets a hold of it. You know how fast she'll spread that stuff." He warned.

Sasuke didn't reply for a while. "How would you approach things?" he finally asked with great effort.

Kiba chuckled as if he had known this was coming all along. "It depends. Whose fault was it?" he asked.

Sasuke contemplated this for a moment. "Both of ours." He replied at last.

Kiba shook his head. "Easy. Just go apologize for being an asshole. It works every time. Just make sure that you sound like you actually mean it." He told him honestly.

Sasuke felt the urge to hurl another kunai at a tree in frustration. His new habit was getting out of hand, but it didn't matter to him because it felt good to do it. He reached into his pocket and carefully aimed for a tree a couple yards away. Throwing it as hard as he could, Sasuke could feel some of the edge leaving his tense muscles.

"Whoa, calm down man." Kiba said sounding as if he were about to put Sasuke in his place.

"I need to go. Thank you Kiba." He replied and in a moment, he was gone.

"Heh. Looks like something finally got to Uchiha. Let's go Akamaru." Kiba said to his faithful companion, who barked in reply.

-o0o-

Sasuke ran as fast as he could to Sakura's apartment, silently creeping up a nearby tree to get access to her third floor apartment. Once he was there, he was surprised to see Sakura on the other side, her eyes red and puffy, as if she had been crying. Knowing her, she probably had. He gently rapped on the window and she let him in.

"I'm sorry for what happened back there." He said once he was inside her bedroom.

Sakura hopped off the ledge of the window sill and walked over to where Sasuke sat on her bed.

"Are you really?" she asked skeptically.

Sasuke looked at her and realized that her eyes frowned and that a mask of coldness had taken refuge on her face.

"Yeah." He mumbled. Sakura be damned, he was already apologizing to her, probably for the first time in his life, she should be ecstatic.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, the edges of her gaze softening, but not completely warming up to him.

"Regardless of what you say, I don't forgive you." She said after a tense moment.

Sasuke didn't respond. If she wasn't going to accept his apology, well then she could go cry for the rest of her life. He wasn't going to hurt his pride by begging. Still, it would be nice if he made an effort.

"Sakura." He said, meeting her gaze head on.

Sakura gasped inaudibly when Sasuke caught her eyes. He leaned closer to her, his eyes never waving from hers.

"I really am sorry." He whispered just over her lips.

Sakura felt herself frozen in place by his boldness. Sasuke was never this direct with anyone and she couldn't figure out how to respond. She sensed Sasuke moving away from her and she did the only thing she could think of. She let her inner fan girl take over. Smiling enchantingly, she tilted her head and coaxed her face closer to Sasuke's.

"Sasuke." she whispered enticingly and Sasuke stopped moving.

Sakura carefully leaned forward until her lips were touching Sasuke's. He quickly caught on, but decided to play her game and gave her a chaste kiss in return. Sakura licked his lips and he tenderly refused her advances. She pulled away and Sasuke closed the gap between them again, gingerly touching her lips with his. She complied and Sasuke quickly pulled away.

"Sakura, go back to bed." And he turned his Sharingan on her, casting her into a gen-jutsu.

He watched as she fell asleep and he quietly exited her room, taking all her memory of that moment with him.

A/N: Please don't kill me if the layout sucks, I've been playing around with the format on Word Doc, but every time I upload, the format changes and I'm not too sure why. If anyone knows how to make a line in the story, please let me know! Also, I hope that this story has been getting better and not worse (sadly, I think that it is the latter).Thank you to everyone's who has been reading and reviewing for me, the comments mean so much! I'll definitely be posting more stories after this one is finished and once again, thank you!


	12. Casualties

Sakura woke up, disoriented when she saw the bright Konoha sun shining through her open blinds.

_What the? _

She got up and rubbed her sleepy eyes. Thoughts of last night came to her and she smiled.

_Of course, it was only a dream. _She stifled a cry of pain upon realizing so.

She sighed and got up, dragging her feet along the floor as she walked over to her bathroom. Running the water on the sink, Sakura looked at her reflection. Her pink hair was tangled and unkempt as if she had slept fitfully; her eyes were glazed over and flat, like she had been crying. At the thought, she narrowed her eyes, shaking her head furiously to get rid of the intrusion.

_I didn't cry myself to sleep. _She told herself firmly, though she was doubtful of the truth behind those words.

It was then that she noticed her lips. They were a shade darker than usual, something that didn't accompany tears.

_My dream. _She remembered how Sasuke had entered her room through the window and had kissed her.

The moment was a fantasy that could only occur in her dreams and she sighed again. Sakura then began vigorously brushing her teeth, determined to rid herself of any impurities the dream had left her with.

_Sasuke? In my dream? Loving me? Ha, I'd have a better chance of Naruto quitting on ramen. _She tried to laugh, but it came out forced.

She then splashed water on her face, hoping to clear her head to no avail.

"Ugh, I need a shower." She said, drying off her face and stepping into her shower.

The kunoichi turned the water icy and stood getting pelted by the harsh and unforgiving water as she breathed in the cold air. She shivered, though more from the refreshing feel than anything. She mechanically washed her hair, feeling her fingers catch in the knots that she still hadn't untangled. After she was finished, she reached for the body wash and began to scrub her skin raw, still feeling unclean no matter how hard she tried to clean herself. Finally giving up once the cold water ran warm, Sakura stepped out of the shower. Her skin was red and abraded, revealing her inner turmoil.

_Stupid Sasuke. Can't I get away from you anywhere? _She cursed, feeling hopeless as he had invaded her inner sanctum.

The medic-nin then padded over to her closet, pulling on her work uniform to get ready for the day.

-o0o-

Sasuke woke up with a jolt, memories from last night impaling his consciousness.

_What the hell? _He touched his hand to his forehead in confusion. _No, not a dream. Damn. _

He got out of bed and quickly headed to the bathroom. Raven hair lightly tussled proved a slightly uncomfortable sleep, though not too much. Obsidian eyes glowed more dangerously, more powerfully. And Sasuke almost enjoyed the look had he not remembered what had happened the previous night. He brushed his teeth and fluidly stepped into the shower, a routine that had yet to be broken. Turning the water to a desirable chill, Sasuke stood, feeling like he was outside with the rain pelting down his back. He remembered the day he fought with Naruto at the Valley of the End; the rain had been sharper, colder than usual, then. He remembered the feeling of recklessness when he joined up with the Sound Ninja 4, the lust for power beating out any sense he had. He remembered the feeling of killing Itachi, the great war going on within him finally ceasing. All the power he had ever known was revealed to him then and the raw emotion was enough to cast him into a world of insanity. He remembered coming back to the village, the feeling of hopelessness and void once he saw that even his closest friends didn't trust him, Naruto and Sakura being the exceptions. He remembered looking at Sakura for the first time in a long time, really taking her in. She had grown up and looked more like a woman, her increase in strength only making her more beautiful. He remembered last night, feeling that she was tangible and that she wasn't a dream. He remembered how he had tricked her into thinking that it was nothing more than a dream. He could feel her heart, seeming to have been connected to his as he felt her emotions for him. He remembered all this while water streamed down hard muscle, pooling in the dips. His breathing became ragged as he took in more bitter air. He then remembered something that finally gave him the will to move. He remembered Sakura's smile as she was teasing him yesterday, he saw the way her eyes sparkled and her whole face lit up. Sasuke then finished his shower and stepped out, eager to begin his intense training with Neji. The Byakugan master was the only true way to test out his Sharingan and Sasuke was intent on winning.

He pulled on a navy Uchiha shirt and white training paints, and outfit he hadn't worn since he was a genin. Grabbing a pear before leaving, Sasuke remembered another thing; his meeting with Sakura at nightfall. Scowling at this, he chucked his hastily-eaten fruit in the garbage. It was the closest thing he could do to throwing yet another kunai at his defenseless wall.

-o0o-

- Room 216

-Room 306

-Room 115

-Room 223

…

The list Sakura held in her hands contained at least ten different room numbers, all of which were her responsibility for the day. Whether it was administering medicine or just making sure the patient was comfortable, she was accountable for every single one of them. And the young medic-nin couldn't have been happier. She was in her element. With the rustle and bustle of the hospital, Sakura could concentrate all her time and energy into doing what she was best at. The bonus was that it left no time to think of Sasuke. She smiled as she walked into the first room.

_Room two sixteen. _She gently knocked on the door and a "Come in." was heard. She turned the knob and walked in, wondering who she was going to treat first. Her eyes widened in astonishment as she saw who lay on the bed.

"Kiba?" she asked, incredulously.

Kiba looked surprised to see her too, his eyes widened. "Sakura, oh hey! I didn't know that it'd be you here." He said, flashing her a fang-baring grin. Akamaru sat by his bed, barking in greeting.

"Hey Akamaru! And well, I'm always here. So what exactly are you here for?" she asked, looking at his chart.

_Three broken ribs and a fractured leg? What has he been doing? _

Kiba laughed uneasily. "Well I was training with Shino and we got a little intense." He explained unconvincingly.

"Oh really? Huh, for some reason I don't believe that." She said skeptically.

"And maybe I was training with Akamaru." He continued unwillingly.

"Uh huh." She said, still looking at his chart.

"Ok, so I fell out of a tree while running away from Naruto! I stole his ramen as a joke and he hounded after me. I thought I was gonna be able to dodge him, but I forgot about his shadow clones! I managed to ditch most of them, but one of them, or maybe it was the real Naruto, I'm not sure, followed me. I was in the forest jumping through the trees because Akamaru and I train there all the time. I figured that if I couldn't shake him, I'd just tire the guy out. Everything was going fine until he started gaining on me. We had to keep going higher and higher, until we were practically touching the sky! Damn that kid has some energy. But anyways, end result is that I lost my footing and fell. Are you happy now?" Kiba asked.

Sakura laughed. "Now that sounds believable." She said. "But anyway, how are you feeling?"

"It's not too bad. The pain when I hit the ground was something else, but right not it's not too bad. Then again, who knows what they put in my system." He chuckled and Sakura smiled.

"Well that's what I'm here for. Excuse me Akamaru." she said to the large canine.

"Arf!" he moved out of the way to allow Sakura to work.

"I'll need to ask you to remove your shirt." She began professionally.

Kiba chuckled. "Careful, Sasuke would have my head if he heard you saying that."

Sakura turned red at the statement. She didn't know that anyone was aware of their 'relationship'. She quickly looked over his rib cage and determined that there was nothing to be worried about.

"We just have to change the bandage." She said. "I'll be back in a minute." And she gently shut the door.

Once she had grabbed the supplies, she quickly hurried back to Kiba's room.

"Ok, let me just change the bandage and I'll be on my way to give you some privacy." She said, walking into his room.

"Heh, well the sooner we can get back to training, the better." He smiled, his fangs prominent.

Sakura quickly cut away the old bandage to reveal a toned stomach and lean, but muscular form.

"Someone's been working hard." She commented, wrapping the fresh bandage around his torso.

Kiba laughed again, a playful sound in her ears. "Yeah well, I have to keep training if I want to be as good as Shino." He said speaking of his teammate. "And Hinata's only getting stronger so I have to really keep up my game."

Sakura couldn't help but hear the sound of longing when he said the Byakugan-wielder's name. It was in the same tone that she had used when talking about Sasuke and she raised her eyebrow in amusement.

"It sounds like someone has a little crush on their teammate. Naruto won't be too happy to hear that." She laughed as Kiba turned pink.

"Yeah, well. Whatever, you're one to talk Sakura!" he replied defensively.

"Ok well I'm finished now." Sakura said, tossing the old bandaged into the trash. "I have to go see other patients now, but I have your room today, so don't hesitate to ask for anything." She told him.

"Yeah, sure thing. Thanks Sakura." He said as Akamaru trotted back over to his side.  
Sakura smiled and patted the dog on the head before leaving.

"Good job, Uchiha." Kiba lightly laughed.

-o0o-

"Is that all you've got? Come on Uchiha, I thought the Sharingan was better than that." Neji taunted as Sasuke failed to land a hit on him.

However, Neji had been relying heavily on his Byakugan for most of the match and therefore wasn't able to say much.

"You wish, Neji." Sasuke retorted, dodging as the Hyuga tried to hit him with his Gentle Fist. "You can't keep up either."

"Hn." Neji aimed another blow at the Uchiha, but was unable to make contact due to Sasuke's own kekkei genkei.

Both shinobi were now breathing heavily, their match had gone on for hours with neither side being able to move much in the end. At first it seemed that Sasuke had the upper hand, but when Neji started playing more defense than offense, he began the spiral downwards. It was true that he had been able to defeat the infamous and notoriously strong Itachi, but Neji was still plenty a match for the young ninja.

"Let's take a break. You fought well." The Hyuga acknowledged him.

Sasuke nodded. "You too. I never imagined that someone would be such a match for me." He told him.

Neji nodded as both boys walked over to the deck area by the Hyuga compound. Hinata arrived a moment later and set down a tray of tea for them.

"Uh here you go Neji and you as well Sasuke." She bowed as Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement.

"Thank you Hinata." Her cousin replied placidly and she quickly hurried out.

"Has she gotten any stronger?" Sasuke wondered, looking at the older jounin.

"Yes, she has. We've been sparring together actually and I have to admit, she is improving fast." Neji informed him, taking a sip of his tea.

"Hn." Was Sasuke's response as he drank the tea.

"So how have your team been?" Neji inquired.

"Naruto has been as annoying as ever. But he's getting better. As for Sakura, she's improved a lot since we were genin, but she still isn't as strong as I would have hoped." He narrowed his eyes at the thought.

Neji nodded slowly, finishing his tea. "You really don't give her enough credit, Uchiha. I was in the hospital once after a mission and she is very good. She has great ability as a medical ninja and I think that you should give her some respect in that." He told Sasuke.

"Hn. Well how has your team been?" Sasuke asked.

"Lee is often out training with Gai, but I see him every so often and it seems as if he only gets stronger. His tai jutsu is incredible now, in fact, even without nin jutsu or gen jutsu, I'm sure that he would easily be a match for me. All those years that I said that he wasn't good enough, I take those words back. Through sheer hard work and determination, he has been able to achieve a level of greatness that is beyond me. Tenten is good as well. Her strength never falters and she never backs down even when in the face of adversity. She keeps a cool head, even able to beat out the most difficult of opponents. As well as being a master at handling weaponry, she is an important part of my squad and I can see that she's constantly improving." The stoic boy replied.

Sasuke was surprised at how easily Neji talked about the kunoichi. He could never say the same about Sakura because in reality he wasn't sure just how strong she was. Being a medical ninja was different from being a shinobi in the aspect that medical nin weren't expected to fight. How could he be sure about her abilities if he never got to see them?

"You seem to speak highly of your squad. How sure are you of their abilities?" Sasuke asked critically.

Neji looked at the boy for a moment, trying to figure out if he really didn't trust his own squad.

"They are very important people to me, even more so because of all that we have been through together. You may want to take a look at your own squad, Sasuke. Even with your Sharingan, you don't see the greatness that Team 7 is." Neji said.

Sasuke scoffed, though he took the older shinobi's words of advice.

"I must go now. I have an appointment with Tenten." Neji said suddenly.

Sasuke nodded. "And I have to meet with Sakura. I look forward to our next match." He told him.

"Right then. And good match today. Hopefully next time we meet you'll have learned something new." Neji replied.

He then saw the Uchiha out and the two parted ways.

-o0o-

"I finished everything that needed to be done. Just one more check up on Kiba Inuzuka and I'll be done for the day." Sakura reported to Shizune.

"That's great! You're really coming along fast, Sakura. Soon you'll be giving Lady Tsunade a run for her money!" the older woman praised.

"Well thank you." Sakura said graciously before slipping away to room 216.

"Kiba," she knocked on the door before coming in. "How are you?"

"Oh hey. I'm pretty good. A little pain in my ribs, but other than that, I'm ok." Kiba greeted, sitting in bed still.

Sakura reached the bed and stopped by his chart, checking to see if anything new had occurred.

"You seem ok. How's the pain?" she asked.

"Steadily getting worse." He answered honestly, petting Akamaru.

"Oh you poor thing. Hang on one sec." she said as she left the room to grab a pain killer.

Once she had filled up a syringe, she headed back into his room. To her surprise, Hinata was in there as well, standing next to his bed and managing to make him smile. Sakura smiled at the sight of the two.

"Hello Hinata. Ok Kiba, this should ease the pain for a while." She said, brandishing the syringe.

Hinata turned to face her. "Oh hello Sakura." She said softly. "How's Kiba doing?" she asked.

Sakura smiled. "He'll be better once I give this to him." She said, motioning to the liquid.

At the sight, Kiba jumped, causing Akamaru to yelp.

"Are you hurt Kiba?" Hinata asked worriedly as she turned to her injured teammate.

"I hate needles." He said seriously and Sakura laughed.

"Everyone does. But what can you do, right?" she asked.

"I'd rather sit through the pain than get a shot." He said firmly.

At this Hinata looked at Sakura and smiled.

"It really isn't that bad Kiba. I mean, if it's going to help you in the end you should go through with it right?" she asked, trying to soothe him.

"No way, Hinata. You don't understand. There's nothing in the world that could make me take that shot. Heck, I'd rather jump out of this window and break the rest of my bones before doing that!" he told the two kunoichi.

Sakura sighed in exasperation. "Honestly Kiba, I would really like to get home, so if you would please just sit still for a second, I could do my job and we would both be happy."

"No way. Right Akamaru?" he asked, checking to make sure his companion was still on his side.

"Arf!" Akamaru barked, letting his master know that as long as he was in the room, nothing was going to hurt Kiba.

"Kiba please, Sakura is only trying to help you. In fact, I'll be right here if you want." Hinata said shyly.

Kiba looked at her incredulously. "You'd do that for me, Hinata?" he asked, the red marks on his cheeks hiding his lightly flushed face.

"Yes, if you want. I don't want you to be in pain, Kiba." Hinata said.

Sakura suddenly felt light-headed. This moment was too perfect. She could see that Hinata really cared for Kiba and vice versa. She wished that her and Sasuke had been that close. He would have told her to just suck it up and deal with it. Kiba's uneasy laugh broke her out of her trance.

"Ok fine. You win. But honestly, I'd still rather take the fall." He said, looking out his window to make the point.

Sakura rolled her eyes as she took Kiba's arm. Hinata sat down gently next to him and took his other hand in hers. Sakura could feel the heat rising to Kiba's face and she stifled a laugh. How could Hinata not see what was right in front of her? Well, she was dating Naruto, but still. Suddenly, she felt bad for Kiba, knowing exactly how he felt.

"Ok, I'll count to three. One, two, three." On three she stuck needle in his arm and quickly pulled it out. "We're done. See? It wasn't that bad." She smiled as Kiba let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness it's over." He said and Hinata giggled.

"See? It wasn't too bad, Kiba." She smiled at him and Kiba chuckled.

"That might knock you out for a bit, Kiba, so don't worry if you start feeling drowsy." Sakura told him.

The dog nin nodded as he felt his head get heavy. "Thanks Sakura." He told her.

"No problem. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, ok?" She replied as she closed the door.

Once outside, she couldn't help but hold her breath and listened in on the two.

"Hinata, will you stay here with me until I fall asleep?" she heard Kiba say.

"Uh, sure Kiba, if that's what you want." Replied Hinata's gentle voice.

Sakura felt tears prick her eyes. Really, if only she and Sasuke had been that close.


	13. Knowledge

A/N: Ok, here is the conclusion to Letters to the Soul. I want to say thank you to everyone who has added me to their Favorite Authors, Story Alert, and Favorite Stories. Thank you so much for reviewing and for reading this far! This was my very first long story and I'm proud to have made it this far. I know that I'll continue to improve and yes, there's another story in the works! As always, thank you to everyone who reviewed, it makes writing the story so much better! And now, without further adieu, I give you the conclusion to Letters to the Soul! *Note, this may be a tad fluffy. I tried hard not to though!*

Sakura stood beneath the tree in the meadow, waiting patiently for Sasuke to appear. Usually, he wasn't one to be late and because she had arrived early, she hoped that, that was the reason why time seemed to move so slowly. With a sigh, she sat down in the flowers, picking up a flower and absent-mindedly began plucking out its petals.

"He'll show up. He won't. He will. He won't. He will." She scoffed as she threw away the stem.

_I wish flowers could tell my future. _She thought inwardly.

As if on cue, Sasuke appeared from her peripheral vision.

"Sakura." He greeted her.

"Sasuke." She replied in the same clipped tone.

He walked over to her and sat down, his eyes taking in the scenery.

"How was your day?" Sakura asked, treading lightly before approaching the heavier subject at hand.

"I trained with Neji. We called it a draw." He replied, looking at her through dark onyx orbs. "What about you?"

"I was working at the hospital. Kiba was there, actually. And Hinata too." She told him.

Sasuke seemed to respond once he heard Kiba's name.

"What happened to him?" he asked.

"He said that he was training with Shino and things got a little intense." Sakura didn't want to betray him and explain the whole truth.

_When did he train with Shino? _Sasuke thought for a moment.

"So Sasuke, about us." Sakura began.

"What about us?" Sasuke seemed to glare at her, defiance clear in his eyes.

Sakura however, refused to back down.

"That stint you pulled at the ice cream parlor was unforgivable." She hissed, pushing a pink lock behind her ear.

Sasuke's eyes lit up in amusement.

"What did I pull? Wasn't it something you pulled?" he reminded her harshly.

Sakura knew that he had her beat. It was true that she had been the one to cause a scene, not him. She didn't know whether to back down or to continue fighting a hopeless case. She decided to do neither.

"Ok Sasuke, just tell me what you think of me and we can just go home. I've had a long day." She retorted.

"You want my honest opinion of you?" he asked.

"Damn right. Just tell me." She said, exasperated.

Sasuke wasn't one to beat around the bush and looked at her, head on.

"I think that you're annoying." He began in a monotone voice, staring idly off into space. "But you also have some potential. What's holding you back is what caused me to leave the village in the first place. You lack the motivation." He informed her.

Sakura stood, open-mouthed at his words.

"As a ninja you are weak. You can't fight as well as most and depend on others." He looked at her while speaking.

Sakura resisted the urge to tell him that she wasn't like that anymore and let him continue.

"But you are strong mentally. You've been through a lot and you're still standing. I'm surprised actually." He continued as the pink haired girl watched in earnest.

"I think that you are a lot of things. But I don't know how to explain it." Sasuke, seeming exhausted from over-use of words, finally finished, leaving much to be unsaid.

Sakura smiled a small smile, reaching out to him with her hand and gently grabbed his. Sasuke stiffened at the action and left her hand there a moment before shaking it off.

"You know, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me." She replied.

Sasuke looked at her, his mouth a hard line, seeming to have reverted back to his stoic self.

"But you know what I think about you, Sasuke?" the girl asked. "I think that you're more than just a powerful shinobi with a bad boy persona. I see beyond your aloofness and your icy attitude. What I see is another boy, no, a man who hides pain with power and who compensates for his loneliness by taking it out on others. I see someone whose intentions _are _good. You just have trouble expressing yourself." Sakura told him gently.

Sasuke's face bore no emotion, no doubt his best defense.

"No. You're wrong. I'm not any of those things. I'm nothing like that at all. You only wish I was a nice person, Sakura. Just keeping hoping and maybe, one day, you'll understand me." The Uchiha said impassively.

Sakura didn't know who he was lying to, himself, or to her. But either way, she knew that he wasn't going admit anything.

"Sasuke." She said his name with a vivid clarity and the sound rang throughout the field.

The young man turned to look at her.

"I could wish for you to be all those things, but then you wouldn't be you. You wouldn't be the Sasuke that I fell in love with all those years ago." She said.

He turned his ebony gaze on her and Sakura nearly fainted from the intensity with which he was looking at her.

"I don't love you anymore, but I don't regret falling for you either."

Sasuke was surprised to hear her say those words.

_So it was true. _He thought.

"Sakura." He spoke her name rapidly and she looked up at him.

Sasuke felt his muscles tense at what he was about to ask her. His mind worked at hyper speed, trying to keep up with his racing heart and he took a few steps towards his ex-teammate. Once they were face to face, Sasuke took a breath, trying desperately to quell the adrenaline that was threatening to over-take his system.

"Will you let the Uchiha Clan die?" he asked as he locked his onyx eyes with her wide emerald orbs.

Sakura staggered back a step before seeming to make up her mind.

"Are you really asking me that?" she asked. "Now of all times?"

"Well it depends. What is your response?" he countered.

Sakura managed a small smiled as she brought her lips to his. Sasuke was surprised by the sudden gesture, but made no attempt to stop her. In a few moments he allowed himself a tentative kiss in return. As Sakura pulled away, Sasuke noticed how her face wasn't flushed a light rouge. It seems that she had gotten over him after all.

"You were there weren't you?" Sakura asked, catching him off guard.

"Where?" he asked, wondering what she was talking about.

"In my bedroom. That one night after the ice cream parlor. You were really there, weren't you?" Sakura asked again.

_How did she know? _Sasuke wanted to know, but instead shook his head.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He lied.

Sakura turned away, though he doubted that she was convinced.

"I should get going." She said suddenly.

Sasuke nodded, though she couldn't see.

"Bye Sakura." He replied after a moment.

"Bye Sasuke." And with that, both shinobi disappeared.

-o0o-

Later on that night, Sakura woke up in a cold sweat. Literally.

"The hell? I know I shut that window." She grumbled and went to slam the window back in place, firmly latching it shut.

Just as she was padding back to bed, she got the sense that she was being watched. As she turned around, she nearly screamed, had it not been for the hand that was covering her mouth.

"It's me." A familiar voice said.

Sakura felt her body go limp and the firm grip that was on her loosened to allow her to move.

"Sasuke?" she asked, rubbing her sleep-filled eyes.

"Hn." The dark haired boy replied.

"What the hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home?" she growled, cranky from the lack of sleep.

"I came to ask you something." He told her.

Sakura looked on anxiously, wondering if this was a dream or not.

"Will you marry me?" he asked, delicately opening a ring box which contained the most beautiful ring Sakura had ever seen.

It was a diamond adorned with smaller rubies, set perfectly in a gold band. She gasped and then flopped back on her bed, giggling uncontrollably in a fit of delusion while Sasuke just stared.

"Man, this is the best dream ever! Except for the fact that I'm probably standing at my window right now, staring aimlessly at the sky!" she continued to laugh.

"Sakura." A voice interrupted her from her hilarity.

"Sasuke, how perfect is this moment? You know, one day when the real, physical you decides to propose, you should do it just like this. How romantic!" Sakura cackled.

"Sakura, you aren't dreaming." Sasuke informed her.

"Oh really? Then explain why Sasuke Uchiha just asked me to marry him. Huh? No way he would do that in real life, ok? He's never cared about girls _ever. _Why would he propose to _me?_" she laughed.

Sasuke sighed, trying to figure out how to bring Sakura back from her insanity.

"Besides Sasuke. If I weren't dreaming, would I be able to do this?" Sakura suddenly grabbed his wrist and captured his lips in a pleading kiss.

She pulled back and smiled. "Now if only I could get Sasuke to do that for real." She sighed.

"Sakura. You aren't dreaming." He then grabbed a kunai knife and nicked his finger for fear of himself dreaming.

The cut stung, which meant that he was very much awake. Sakura watched as he squeezed his fist together to stop the bleeding.

"Sasuke?" she seemed to have finally calmed down from her fit upon seeing him cut himself.

She gently, but firmly grabbed his shoulders and shook him as if trying to gauge the situation.

"Are you really here?" she asked, gazing from the cut to his handsome face and back.

"Yes. I'm tangible which means that you aren't dreaming." He explained.

"Sasuke." She finally looked into his eyes for the first time all night. "So you mean to really ask me to…" her voice trailed off as she slid her gaze away from his piercing focus.

"Yeah." Was his simple response.

"Well, I don't… I mean I want to...I don't know." She finally said, looking from him to her floor.

"Fine." Sasuke replied with a smirk.

"What?" Sakura was surprised to see him so nonchalant about it all.

Sasuke still had a smirk on his lips.

"Sakura, we're eighteen. Why would I get married?" he asked more seriously this time.

Sakura felt a weight lift itself from her chest. So it was a ploy all along. But for what reason?

"Why did you do that?" she asked, beginning to feel sleepy again.

Sasuke shrugged, though in reality, he knew why.

"I wanted to test if what you said was true. And it is." He sat 0n the edge of her bed as she curled back in her blanket.

Sakura smiled. "Well now you know. And when I wake up in the morning, everything will have been a dream. Am I right, Sasuke?" She asked, yawning.

Sasuke managed a small smile, but offered her no reply. Instead, he lay down beside her and waited until sleep came to him. No, tonight, he wasn't going to take away her memory. He wanted to treasure this moment forever.


End file.
